The sentiment from me is that any registration pop-up converts good feelings (good feelings that might have turned into love organically) into repulsive hate faster than I can close the tab or window.

The way to win me over is purely with content. I read HN for years without getting an account. Guess what, I came back day after day because of the content. Eventually I wanted to participate more actively, so I intentionally and with absolutely no prompting, registered.

The post is basically a slap in the face for the users. It's a detailed analysis about how to extract maximum monetization value out of a cheap and annoying trick. Working hard to optimize the effectiveness of this "method" shows a staggering amount of disrespect to their userbase.

Why don't you start by not generating hate? An unimaginable, controversial suggestion, no doubt, but perhaps there's some slight value in it all the same.