&gt; NYT times costs hundreds of millions to run.<p>Maybe their product <i>isn&#x27;t worth</i> hundreds of millions of dollars.<p>As for willingness to pay, you seem to be projecting your own selfish behavior onto others. I know quite a few counter-examples that prove people <i>are</i> willing to pay for content they <i>actually value</i>. They have embraced technology to lower costs, and have cultivated very generous audiences using places like Patron.<p>&gt; only example of donations working at scale<p>LOL. Only if you don&#x27;t look. Also, why do you think everything has to work &quot;at scale&quot;? Small-but-loyal audiences are fine.