This is in the FAQ at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html and there's more explanation here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989
https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
I know here in Toronto, our library subscribes via Pressreader which gives access to a large number of periodicals and newspapers.
https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMEDB01...
Or try an aggregate service like Apple News where you pay a little more total but get wide-reaching access to a large number of pubs.
edit: Sorry, it doesn't look like Pressreader has WSJ, but they do have a large number of other American pubs. Apple News+ has WSJ, I believe.
The point is that it's an interesting article. It's not hard to search for the keywords in the title and find some other news outlet covering it, albeit in less comprehensive detail, or look for comments that reiterate the salient details.
Nobody's ever happy..
You just made me realize I'm a bit of a hypocrite. I don't want ads, but I will never pay for this either. Then again, I don't really want to read it anyway hehe
That being said, if ads actual ads and not targeted surveillance crap, I'd be ok with that. I might have to change my adblocker settings to reflect that...
Regardless, I realize we shouldn't be complaining about paywalls in comments. I just wanted to address your question.
Then, the publication suffers and the quality falls.
???
Why would the publication just give away the product of their labour for free? [Especially the WSJ. That's against their cornerstone beliefs AFAIU.]
Paid articles = ???