I have long been a fan and a critic of The Wall Street Journal online edition. Several years ago I questioned the subscription strategy for this site. Dow Jones' defense was obtaining some 700,000 paid subscribers. This admirable number looks good until one realizes that millions of readers would have been reading wsj.com every day if in fact the site had been open.

I had suggested a combination of an open site as well as paid areas. The New York Times online edition took a form of the approach I suggested and apparently it has been very successful (although I think the Times should make it a bit easier to get information without registration).

Rafit Ali, a master blogger, pointed out the other day that Dow Jones will be opening wsj.com to all readers for a week in early November. The lifting of the subscription veil can only mean that things are not terrific as wsj.com. I am sure that the test is for advertising purposes. It will be interesting to see what happens with readership and then what Dow Jones decides to do down the road.

Unfortunately for Dow Jones, no matter what happens with the test, they have lost millions of readers forever. Users tend to bookmark favorite sites. Sites such as marketwatch.com were able to thrive for the previous 5 years or so because of the Dow Jones subscription position. I believe it is now too late for Dow Jones to regain lost readership to a site such as marketwatch and a host of others.