Here's an answer from other HN threads. No one wants to buy a membership for the following reasons (in concert): * no unified marketplace means you have to buy

Here's an answer from other HN threads. No one wants to buy a membership for the following reasons (in concert): * no unified marketplace means you have to buy a variety of memberships. * no established micro-transaction provider means costs are going to be above minimum credit card transaction fees which makes multiple memberships expensive. * ad block is free. If you're an established brand, you can count on some degree of good will. People will pay for the NYT, the WSJ, and the Economist. They'll pay for the LWN for a similar reason. But for BuzzFeed? Probably not. And for Random Site K, not a chance. I mean, would _you_ pay to use SpeedTest.net?