I know we can get passed paywalls by archiving but sometimes that takes a bit of time. I remember there was something about adding a letter after the dot com/ but can't recall the letter. I found a comment that says to add a dot after the dot com but that doesn't seem to work. Any ideas?
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The dot behind the dot com is typically assumed by the browser to be there at all times anyway, sort of like WWW, it just denotes that the com in dot com is the top level domain, so adding it to the end of a URL doesn't really do anything at all.
This is true, but there IS a trick the OP was talking about.
Again, I feel like it vaguely involved the letter "a", and vaguely remember it involving placing something before the subdomain. Obviously, it won't work as a subdirectory.
I feel like it might have been involved with a certain type of disability access protocall.
Sorry to keep harping on this, its just this is one of those simple hacks I feel like I know exists, and I'm ashamed of myself for not noting it better.
A personal failure, honestly. 😟
Edit: ashamed, so I dug. Can't test it myself, but apparently a single period after the TLD before the first backslash will do this. More info in another reply here.
Thanks for contributing.
Fwiw, I remember reading this trick as well, but I don't remember the details. Would also appreciate it.
For some reason the letter "a" is on the tip of my brain... Gosh, this is frustrating.
I was thinking K but that doesn’t seem to work. I’ve pretty much gone through the entire alphabet trying it. Maybe it’s changed since I last used it. Beats me! I’ll just have to archive and be patient if it’s slow.
I would be testing this myself, but I don't have any paywalled sources handy, lol.
Did a little digging, apparently it's possible by adding a "." (period) after the TLD (.com, etc) before the first backslash. For instance www.nytimes.com./paywalled/article
Here's some reference:
Reddit Thread
PLEASE let me know if it works. If it DOES, I guarantee I'll never forget this trick again, lol.
Yes I use the archive sites but when it takes so long it gets frustrating.
Many of my local newspapers etc hide behind a paywall or X views for free. Private window and cookies off doesn’t seem to overcome the limited views.
There was something mentioned, and it worked but I forgot what it was, about adding an extra letter after the dot com slash. Doing that got around the paywall. I.E. address .com/k/restofit