Fix Your Links »
I was browsing the feed from the Charlotte Observer today. The paper is owned by Knight Ridder, so you can typically access stories from any of the sites - appears to be one giant server (or set of them) with a bunch of domains pointing to the same place. Which is fine. If I used "charlotte" or "centredaily" or any of a dozen others, I can get to the articles. Everything is good.
The problem comes up because the site requires free registration. I've been registered for a while, so generally have no problem. But the feed today was loaded with addresses from another one of these domains. Since these links pointed to a different domain (from the Twin Cities, I believe), I wasn't able to read the content. I had to sign in, even though my cookie is valid at the Observer site. So I did, and it prompted me to fill out a series of questions, like I'm a new user. This is ridiculous!
Either standardize these things and figure out how to make it universal, put the right links into the right feed or turn off the registration system, Knight Ridder!
