I've thought about the same thing before but can't figure out how economics would work. Everyone expects things to be free free free nowadays.
I think it could grow into something really cool where you could have authors & other respected thought-leaders participate and have very deep, insightful conversations.
How is valuable, insightful discussion not worth paying for?
Give me an example of an ad-funded discussion medium that does well. Even reddit isn't profitable.
Guess I won't be touching this concept with a 10-foot pole.
Do you not value your house or car because you have to pay for it?
as for capturing value, i'm referring specifically to the monetary aspect of things - assuming the company adds value by providing the platform and gets paid for it and the users add value by providing the content but do not get paid for it, the explicit introduction of money into the ecosystem has introduced a situation where one party is seen to be asymmetrically rewarded for the overall success of the ecosystem.