This is a link aggregation service, though. The OP is not really weighing in on the value of pay walls, nor whether or not they actually ensure "good journalis

This is a link aggregation service, though. The OP is not really weighing in on the value of pay walls, nor whether or not they actually ensure "good journalism." The issue being raised here is that posting pay-walled links increases friction for, I would imagine, the overwhelming majority of users of the site. I wouldn't expect people from, say, India, or even Brazil, to be able to get the NYT from their public libraries. They have their own newspapers to subsidize.