I think that the $5 fee is important to avoid burning out the moderators with a huge load of work. You can only manage/moderate a limited amount of work, not a

I think that the $5 fee is important to avoid burning out the moderators with a huge load of work. You can only manage/moderate a limited amount of work, not a tidal wave like noise on the "New" page on Hacker News. So I think you need both: a high quality team, and a (rough) automated filter to restrain the amount of work put on the team.