locked out

I blame my friend, D. for my latest devastation. To be fair, I have several friends (at least five) who's names begin with the letter D. Only one of them is in my bad books today. I'm confident that she'll know who she is, and hopeful that she'll feel an appropriate level of guilt.

Last month, she told me that she'd gotten a call from The Globe and Mail - not because they wanted to publish her, as she fleetingly and wrongly suspected, but because they wanted to know why she didn't subscribe. Since, "because I don't feel like it," was apparently unacceptable as an answer (and to her credit she tried), she finally admitted, after much pressing, that she'd rather read it online, for FREE.

"WHAT?!?!" I screeched when she dropped this bomb. "Tell me you didn't actually tell them this! You know they're going to start charging for access once they know, don't you?? Tell them you read it at the library, or that you don't know how to read, or . . . just HANG UP! But never, NEVER let them know you'd rather read them online because it's free!!"

But it was too late. The conversation had already taken place. What was she - or me! - to do?

So now they know, and now it's happened. Today, when I logged on for my regular G&M fix I was, am, locked out of almost everything!! Christy Blatchford! Russell Smith! Heather Mallick! Roy MacGregor and, yes, (gulp) Lynne Crosbie! Margaret Wente hadn't published anything in the last seven days, but she, too, will probably have a rust-coloured key beside her name when she's back. The horror! The horror! Only Leah McLaren remains accessible and I'm not quite sure why that is. Is she not GOOD enough to be under lock and key? What's with that? She should definitely be locked away with the rest of them . . . but what am I saying?

When you click on a keyed article, now, it takes you to a page that offers a 14-day free trial. Great. After that, a single article is $4.95. Yeah, an entire paper is only a dollar ($2 Saturday)! Or you can pay $14.95 a month ($9.95 for the first two months if you subscribe before Nov. 30), which is cheaper than a real subscription ($25.91 plus tax) but WAY more than free.

All I can hope for now is solidarity among my G&M compatriots. Don't do it! Don't subscribe! Stand firm and wait for them to realize this was all a big mistake and it's more important to have readers than money on top of money. I'd resubscribe (home delivery) but my day is only so long, and sometimes the paper is longer. Oh, yeah, and I'm currently totally broke. All I need is a few quick hits a week - is that too much to ask? Is that too greedy? I don't have a lot of addictions, I'm happy to say, but this - this, I need. I NEED it, man.

In Korea, they say that if you like free things too much your hair will fall out. The word "tae-mari" (bald) is pretty much tantamount to "greedy." I've got lots of hair - for now. But with the help of an otherwise good friend, and the Globe and Mail, I may soon be sporting a new look.