What we do when an article is locked

Some of the best writing on the internet sits behind a subscription. You can save it like anything else. Here is what happens next, and why we handle it the way we do.

What we see

When you save a link, we fetch the page the way a browser would, without being signed in to anything. For a paywalled article, that usually means the headline, a paragraph or two, and a request to subscribe. We look for the signs: a subscribe wall in the page, or a body far shorter than the article it claims to be.

What we do

We do not summarize it. A summary written from the first two paragraphs would read like a summary of the whole piece, and it would be wrong in ways you could not spot. You would walk away sure of an argument the author never made. We would rather tell you less than tell you something false.

So the article goes in your letter under "Couldn't write a summary", with its title, its publication, and a note that says it is for subscribers. The link takes you straight to the original, where your own subscription works as usual.

What we never do

We do not use your logins, cookies, or subscriptions to get past a wall, and we do not pull articles from archive sites or copies. The publisher decided who gets to read the piece. We respect that, and it is also why writers can trust a tool like this.

Making the most of it

If you pay for a publication, keep saving from it. The entry is still a useful reminder that sits in the same place as everything else you meant to read, and it takes one tap to open. If you do not pay for it, the title and publication are often enough to decide whether that one article is worth a free read or a subscription.