Who can actually read these subscribers-only articles proliferating from Bloomberg on HN?
That said, I’m personally all for subscriptions but don’t see a way forward for something like HN sharing of essentially private content.
That said, I’m personally all for subscriptions but don’t see a way forward for something like HN sharing of essentially private content.
I think sometimes the OP doesn't realise or has forgotten it can't be seen by others, but in many cases it's maybe laziness.
The guidelines don't help in saying criticism is off limits either, it's too regular an issue.
Take your pick of what world you want to live in.
I don't want to spend $20 / mo for NYT or WSJ or any newspaper.
I'd like that, too. A simple implementation that automatically deducts a payment on access might be promoting the same type of low-value content that's growing everywhere now, and which the GP called out: clickbait and stuff that enrages people pays well.
I don't know if a more complicated distribution scheme would help. People don't like dealing with complexity, and automatic metrics can be easily gamed, so I feel like such a system will tend to regress to the same behavior as a simple one, with more overhead.
There was an effort to introduce a micropayment system for content creators before, in Germany - maybe other elsewhere, too. In the early 2000s, when the web seemed to be full of interesting blogs, bloggers often had a "flattr" button, which would give them some money out of a monthly sum you could set. At the end of the month, everbody you "flattered" would get a share of your pile/allowance. I think there was a way to weigh how much they should get, compared to others.
Anyway, the system was made to reward creators with small amounts of money while keeping the transaction costs low.
It didn't really go anywhere for whatever reason. It seemed to disappear quietly after a year or two. Maybe it still exists, but I don't see the buttons anymore. I guess the economics didn't work out in the end.
Maybe it was too early? We have Patreon now, and it seems like people are adopting their approach. Interestingly, though, most of the time, it takes the form of subscriptions over payments for individual piece of content. (That payment model used to exist, but I haven't seen it in a while.)
So modern subscription models using Patreon seem to work well in supporting creators of interesting content, while there still isn't a micropayment pool for one-off access that I'm aware of. That makes me wonder what economic factors are at work here that can explain this, and shed some light on why a system like you're suggesting hasn't become mainstream yet.
Just don't say mention Web3 and we'll be good.