IMHO, I think they should be really careful regarding your last point - marketing tactics. Gamification, i.e. badges, I don't think would go over too well with

IMHO, I think they should be really careful regarding your last point - marketing tactics. Gamification, i.e. badges, I don't think would go over too well with their subscriber demographic. I think something like a free month, a free public share of a link (I don't know LWN very well, but I do remember reading articles there which say that some member sponsored the article to make it public) or a bundle of $RELEVANT_TO_YOUR_INTERESTS white papers may work better. Otherwise I think you make some very solid points, especially trying to find out how to subscribe was much harder than it should be...