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The HN FAQs [1] state that paywalled articles are OK as long as there is a known workaround so everyone can read it, even if it takes a little effort. Someone
by tomhoward 7y ago
The HN FAQs [1] state that paywalled articles are OK as long as there is a known workaround so everyone can read it, even if it takes a little effort.
Someone usually posts a link to the workaround in the comments, i.e.:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23030502 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23030502
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23028577 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23028577
It's not ideal, but better than banning every site that might ever have a paywall, which, aside from leading to the loss of a big chunk of quality content, would create confusion relating to the fact that paywalls behave differently based on regions, previous site visits, click origins etc.
So it's the least-worst solution.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
- Isinlor 7y agoStill, it would be useful to have an indicator like [paywall], so that it's easy to avoid paywalled articles.
- tomhoward 7y agoI think Dang has long ago decided that wouldn't improve HN, and I tend to agree. Tagging an article as paywalled would imply that it's inaccessible to non-subscribers, which isn't true; inaccessible content is banned from HN. Paywalled content is only allowed if the paywall can easily be bypassed, so tagging it as paywalled would just cause more confusion, not less. Everyone accepts it's an imperfect situation. But it's still the least-worst situation.