striving to be as out-of-touch as possible

sometimes, the ny times makes it far too easy to be criticized...

finding the openness of the web too unrestrictive, the times walled off its archives and columnists with its timesselect subscription program. now, the times wants to limit the amount of contact with the outside world by preventing e-mails from non-'select' people--even limiting that to a basic web form.

incidentally, the subscription numbers don't appear to be that strong

The Times has been reluctant to provide the most recent data on TimesSelect subscribers, last revealing more than a month ago that some 330,000 people had signed up for TimesSelect. About half of those are believed to be print subscribers who receive complimentary Web access as part of their home delivery plan.

if those numbers don't pick-up, i predict an about face down the line