Perhaps some people value this discussion (on HN, for example) far more than the publication as a whole. So it&#x27;s worthwhile to jump through a few hoops to read the article and participate here, but not so worthwhile to maintain a paid online subscription.<p>If these publications were smart, they would find ways to capture this kind of higher quality conversation&#x2F;participation. But I don&#x27;t have the answers there.