A paywall comes down. Again.

Newspapers continue to act as if their commodity product is a scarce good. There are only a couple of news organizations that can do a paywall and the SF Chronicle is not one of them. [Link]

After less than four months, the San Francisco Chronicle has torn down its paywall, saying little about what led to the decision. I presume that the signup numbers were very very low, and that the drop in ad-views was sufficiently alarming that it made management reconsider.

Staffers were informed of the move during a meeting Monday afternoon at the newspaper's downtown San Francisco office, according to the SFWeekly. Oddly, SFChronicle.com subscribers will still have the option of paying for access to the premium-content Web site even though it will all now be freely available at SFGate.com, the free weekly alternative newspaper reported. 

Chronicle representatives declined to comment on whether it had dismantled the paywall, saying that it was now publishing San Francisco Chronicle content to both Web sites.