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https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html:

"Are paywalls ok?

It's ok to post stories from sites with paywalls that have workarounds.

In comments, it's ok to ask how to read an article and to help other users do so. But please don't post complaints about paywalls. Those are off topic."



Complaint: "This article has a paywall! Ugh!"

Solutioning: "You know, paywalls are awful. Is there any technology tweak we can apply to make the situation better?"


(Not sure if this is what you mean, but) Blocking paywalls wouldn't make HN better. It would make it much worse, because it would exclude many good articles. That's why the rule is to allow paywalls that have workarounds, i.e. that the community can still read.

If anyone has a suggestion that would actually make the situation better, I'd love to hear it, because the current situation sucks, and has sucked for at least 10 years. It just sucks less than the alternatives we know of.


Great ask. I'm not advocating for paywall blocking. Something simple like a crawler that hits a paywall on an article automatically attempts the router du jour. Or a "paywall" flag users can tag that initiates, etc.


Also please don't post complaints about complaints about paywalls. Those are off-topic twice.




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