It seems ARS is keeping the free trials for the moment.
Kevin said "Free trials are not going anywhere" and then Marc De said:
That is NOT an official announcement. That means that Wedn, Oct 1 we do not plan to remove FREE trials. However, we may have to remove them down the road if chargebacks can't be kept inline with the free trials. I'm doing everything I can to keep them but some things are out of my control.
For now, they stay...
So this is good news, no massive link changes for me just yet

