I have no problem with paywalls. In my opinion, that's how sites ought to fund themselves. Ads and tracking suck. So yes, I subscribe to sites that I read frequently. But I'm not going to subscribe to everything that strikes my fancy on HN.

So anyway, what I complain about are sites that load the paywall at first visit. If the site allows five free articles per month, why not just wait until the sixth?

I'd like to think the comments in this thread don't represent HN.

Should we also stop what's you favourite book threads since they are mostly paywalled or ask if we are allowed to link to the torrents?

Paywalls don't make as much sense on the web because of hyperlinking. I don't read articles from just one source (like a newspaper) I'm reading tiny bits from hundreds of different sources in a day.

I'm not sure the best way to monetize that but a paywall on a single ___domain sort of misses how 99% of the audience actually uses the site.

To extend the irony further, it's products like the Economist that are consistently of a better quality (than non paywalled publications), it seems. I'm no libertarian, but I have yet to find a news publication better than the Economist.

It's not really ironic though. This is a site for discussing articles. Having to pay to play really ruins the experience and excludes a lot of valuable discussion.

Nobody cares about sites trying to make money. What people complain about is when it means an HN reader has to directly pay to participate.

> Having to pay to play really ruins the experience

Indeed it would, which is why it's not happening. That's already clear from the title: "workarounds" means the only price is a bit of annoyance.