I think that even if a policy were implemented that banned paywalls, it would be extremely difficult to enforce. For readers who have subscriptions, it may be n

I think that even if a policy were implemented that banned paywalls, it would be extremely difficult to enforce. For readers who have subscriptions, it may be non-obvious during submission that it's going to end up paywalled for guests. Some sites have anti-ad-blocking technology, which only have a paywall if adblocked (like The Atlantic). How would these sites be classified? Similarly, does it really count as a paywall if the site has a counter that requires payment after x visits? Some percentage of readers won't hit it, and some will. Keeping track of which sites have these types of soft paywalls might be overly taxing. I think the current stance is fine, just because it's easier for moderation to deal with. Trying to keep a running blacklist or implementing some kind of detector would be difficult. Responding to an article once it's on the front page would be useless, as you'd have discovered it only by trial and error in the first place.