I'm a fan of LWN.net's[0] business model. (Enough that it's the only news source I actually subscribe to). Links to external news articles are free for anyone

I'm a fan of LWN.net's[0] business model. (Enough that it's the only news source I actually subscribe to). Links to external news articles are free for anyone to read, and for all account owners (paid or not) to comment on. Featured articles by LWN's paid contributors are available for paid subscribers to read and comment on immediately, and for everyone else to read and for unpaid account owners to comment on between 7-14 days after first publication.[1] If you want to check out their past article quality, or just read interesting previous articles, you don't even need an account. No pop-ups. No generic nag screens. If you're not a paid subscriber and you go to view an article you can't view yet, it tells you it's currently for subscribers only and how to get a subscription if you want one, but also tells you the date that the article will become free to read without a subscription. Yes, I lurked for a few years before I became a paid member. Because I was able to read everything for free, the site built its reputation for me to the point where I was happy to subscribe to get those featured articles just a bit sooner. (And be able to participate in the comments in a timely fashion.) [0] https://lwn.net/ https://lwn.net/ [1] It's a bit complicated. Featured articles from throughout the week are collected every Thursday into the "Weekly Edition", and the Thursday after that that Weekly edition and all its articles are available for free.