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Complaining about paywalls on HN is strong irony. Paywalls are erected around websites intended to make money. A significant portion of the HN community are sp

by a3n 11y ago

Complaining about paywalls on HN is strong irony. Paywalls are erected around websites intended to make money. A significant portion of the HN community are specifically building websites intended to make money. Perhaps the majority in the past, before the Elves left the forest. What's special about news sites, that compels people to complain about them popping up on HN? If it's really a bad thing, then shouldn't we be complaining about non-news sites that make money (or are trying to?). Isn't every YC company trying to make money, and charging for what their website offers? Sheesh.

mirimir 11y ago
I have no problem with paywalls. In my opinion, that's how sites ought to fund themselves. Ads and tracking suck. So yes, I subscribe to sites that I read frequently. But I'm not going to subscribe to everything that strikes my fancy on HN. So anyway, what I complain about are sites that load the paywall at first visit. If the site allows five free articles per month, why not just wait until the sixth?
hacknat 11y ago
To extend the irony further, it's products like the Economist that are consistently of a better quality (than non paywalled publications), it seems. I'm no libertarian, but I have yet to find a news publication better than the Economist.
aaron695 11y ago
I'd like to think the comments in this thread don't represent HN. Should we also stop what's you favourite book threads since they are mostly paywalled or ask if we are allowed to link to the torrents?
aaron695 11y ago
I'd like to think the comments in this thread don't represent HN. Should we also stop what's you favourite book threads since they are mostly paywalled or ask if we are allowed to link to the torrents.
hueving 11y ago
It's not really ironic though. This is a site for discussing articles. Having to pay to play really ruins the experience and excludes a lot of valuable discussion. Nobody cares about sites trying to make money. What people complain about is when it means an HN reader has to directly pay to participate.
- dang 11y ago
  > Having to pay to play really ruins the experience Indeed it would, which is why it's not happening. That's already clear from the title: "workarounds" means the only price is a bit of annoyance.
wvenable 11y ago
Paywalls don't make as much sense on the web because of hyperlinking. I don't read articles from just one source (like a newspaper) I'm reading tiny bits from hundreds of different sources in a day. I'm not sure the best way to monetize that but a paywall on a single domain sort of misses how 99% of the audience actually uses the site.

by a3n 11y ago

mirimir 11y ago

I have no problem with paywalls. In my opinion, that's how sites ought to fund themselves. Ads and tracking suck. So yes, I subscribe to sites that I read frequently. But I'm not going to subscribe to everything that strikes my fancy on HN. So anyway, what I complain about are sites that load the paywall at first visit. If the site allows five free articles per month, why not just wait until the sixth?

hacknat 11y ago

To extend the irony further, it's products like the Economist that are consistently of a better quality (than non paywalled publications), it seems. I'm no libertarian, but I have yet to find a news publication better than the Economist.

aaron695 11y ago

I'd like to think the comments in this thread don't represent HN. Should we also stop what's you favourite book threads since they are mostly paywalled or ask if we are allowed to link to the torrents?

aaron695 11y ago

hueving 11y ago

It's not really ironic though. This is a site for discussing articles. Having to pay to play really ruins the experience and excludes a lot of valuable discussion. Nobody cares about sites trying to make money. What people complain about is when it means an HN reader has to directly pay to participate.

dang 11y ago
> Having to pay to play really ruins the experience Indeed it would, which is why it's not happening. That's already clear from the title: "workarounds" means the only price is a bit of annoyance.

wvenable 11y ago

Paywalls don't make as much sense on the web because of hyperlinking. I don't read articles from just one source (like a newspaper) I'm reading tiny bits from hundreds of different sources in a day. I'm not sure the best way to monetize that but a paywall on a single domain sort of misses how 99% of the audience actually uses the site.