Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

When this was first posted on HN it seemed to work without issue - however since then I have attempted to use it on numerous occasions and get a server error, or just a blank page with the window "is the paywall gone? Y/n".

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#5

Post by Cyclical » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 10:34 PM UTC

Every time I've ever tried 12ft, I've gotten a 503 error. Multiple devices tested, always the same thing.

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#6

Post by hwbehrens » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 10:35 PM UTC

I have tried this site multiple times and never been successful. I find archive.ph to be much more reliable.

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#7

Post by loloquwowndueo » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 10:36 PM UTC

How long before this starts being monetized? “Surely you can see that paying for a single monthly subscription beats paying many?”

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#8

Post by nkozyra » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 10:36 PM UTC

hunterb123 wrote: post #3

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https://www.economist.com/science-an... That example is linked from their own homepage. Seems a 14ft ladder is needed? Pro tip, just access the google web cache directly: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:...

This works most of the time but I find archive.is gives me an almost perfect 100% paywall evasion.

Admittedly the idea of having the full url included is appealing.

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#9

Post by lapser » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 10:37 PM UTC

I've been getting less and less success with 12ft.io. I mostly use it on my phone. On my computer I use Bypass Paywall Clean[0] (chrome/firefox addon) which uses different tricks to access the full article.

[0] https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#10

Post by nkozyra » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 10:37 PM UTC

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #7

How long before this starts being monetized? “Surely you can see that paying for a single monthly subscription beats paying many?”

Given it doesn't seem to work all that well, I wouldn't be worried.

There have been many attempts to federate paywalls but the publishers will never play ball.