If I think only of the WSJ in isolation, the OP's position might seem extreme, but when I consider that the HN front page may be dominated by links to various p

If I think only of the WSJ in isolation, the OP's position might seem extreme, but when I consider that the HN front page may be dominated by links to various paywalled sites (because we allow them, right?) I can see how the user experience will quickly become atrocious. As a site centered around voting and discussion, it's important to make access to the content being voted upon and discussed readily accessible to a large fraction of the readers. While it may come to pass that most HN readers will have a WSJ subscription, it will likely never be the case that most HN readers have subscriptions to most submitted paywalled sites. I would support a policy that forbids submissions that require payment to read for this reason.