Several readers yesterday spontaneously offered to pay for access to The New York Times' online edition, even as the newspaper's own attempt to monetize the service several years ago ended in failure, the New York Observer reported today.

The readers' offers to pay were prompted by yesterday's announcement by The Times that it would seek 100 voluntary resignations or be forced to lay off as many staffers by year's end. Meanwhile, fewer readers urged the newspaper to keep its online edition available free of charge.

The impending layoffs represent a second round of cuts which editorial employees hoped to stave off by bargaining in May for a paycut, the New York Observer reported yesterday.

Despite the five percent paycut and other cost-cutting measures undertaken in recent months, The Times finds itself obliged to press on with the staff reduction in the face of an industrywide crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.