The Times has moved to convert its "alerts" (whereby your saved search is performed daily against new articles, the results sent by email) into a paid service. This is a better way to fund the online venture than locking down the archives: opening up those archives would allow us all to depend on the Times as a source of information. The ability to keep up with what breaks in the Times is something that junkies and pundits might be willing to pay for, since they could link to the articles without fear of linkrot.