N.Y. Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. was quoted in the article as saying: "It gets to the issue of how comfortable are we training a generation of readers to get quality information for free. That is troubling."

Yup, if you started out giving it away for free, you'll run into that kind of trouble. And, in case you didn't know it yet, dating (not auctions or music downloads) leads in online paid-for content.