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Comment by seattlefreeze | Hacker News Reader

Sooo many people on HN despise ads (rant after rant about using adblockers) yet hate paywalled articles. How is it, exactly, do you want people to get paid for writing quality journalism? You can immediately see it's a WSJ url -- if you don't have an account because you don't value their writing then skip this post and move on.

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It seems clear that a significant minority of HN simply objects to the idea that writing is a valuable and worthwhile economic activity. That's my only explanation for how they can oppose literally every viable method of monetizing content.

Anything with low-effort access will always connote little value in people's minds because endless alternatives exist. Anyone who wants to get paid for doing something hard should avoid channels like that, or only use them to float associated freebie products that can introduce people to the real product.

Maybe because we're writing comments and not getting paid anything :)

Given that officialchicken has a sense of entitlement so misplaced that even the minimal effort to work around the paywall is more than he feels he "should" provide, it's safe to say the guy is just an asshole and idiot. An asshole, because he expects something for nothing, and an idiot for thinking that attitude has any place in a sustainable ecosystem for solid news.

Harsh language, I know, but if assholes and idiots are the ones who determine what HN readers can and cannot post, it can only end badly for HN as a whole. After all, why would any intelligent person make time for a news board dominated by people who have nothing but contempt for the work of journalism?

  Sooo many people on HN despise ads (rant after rant about
  using adblockers) yet hate paywalled articles.

They aren't necessarily the same people.

I think their answer might be "VC money". Being profitable is not for cool unicorns.

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