That's why I posted a gift link, so most people won't hit the paywall. The big exceptions:
- You've disabled javascript
- You're running a browser extension which strips off the gift token
- Your phone or browser is in a weird state and needs to be restarted
It's a problem the whole news industry has. Craigslist took all the classified ads. Facebook took almost all the business ads. So what's left is subscriptions — and if you don't charge, the paper goes bust.
Something like 80% of local newspapers in the US have gone under already.