Do people who get mad about paywalls think of writers as solar-powered content machines who don't need food or rent money, or are they just so wealthy they've never considered the price of being alive? Truly, I'm curious

April 08, 2026 - 15:09 UTC

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I don't like paywalls either. No one does. It's going to be a lot harder to create Content if we starve to death tho
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Kind of a false dichotomy. There are ways to do media without charging for the content. Also hard to claim we're essential for democracy but only available to those who can pay.

Source: guy who's been running a free nonprofit news outlet for 10 years
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People are pointing out that it's also more lucrative to advertise to a conservative audience which is also a very good point
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They don't think of writers at all.
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Pretty much. It's amazing how creepy they are.

"Fuck you, pay me" is still a good motto.
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The thing i hate about pay walls is that you cant just grab a copy when someone else is done with it like you could back in the olden times of yore.
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It's all bullshit and the Internet was a mistake, no doubt about it
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Neither of those things. I don't have unlimited money, I can't spend hundreds of dollars a month on subscriptions.

Why would I want to pay for something when I don't know if it's for me?

A story from far outside my area might be worth reading. I'm not buying a subscription to read one article.
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One thing writers can do that would help enormously is use gift links whenever possible. The best of them already do. Same for subscribers.

I wish the publications themselves would do it, too.

Writers deserve to be paid, but it's infeasible to subscribe to every paywalled pub w/social media links
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I got a face full of this the other day bsky.app/profile/padrock.bsky.social/post/3miuifccphc25
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🤦‍♂️
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