Unfortunately, the vast majority of users don't want to spend a dime on any digital good ever. In fact, they are very offended when asked to pay and will gladly leave 1 star reviews thinking that they are defending their interests. They won't admit to it but they are instead paying with their privacy and attention. This is the reason we have tech monopolies financed by marketing and user data for sale on the dark net. And the worst bit of it all is that the current state of affairs is hopelessly irreversible
You are absolutely right. Every HN thread about a consumer product that is paid is full of why it is bad, or why people would gladly pay if it had 10 more orthogonal features, or they have a better way to support the creator, or the product doesn't deserve payment for some random reason but it is OK to use it without compensating the creator.
The irony is a good % of HN is well paid due to information related jobs. And their work is valued only due to artificial scarcity of information.
> Unfortunately, the vast majority of users don't want to spend a dime on any digital good ever.
The subscriber count for Netflix, Disney+, Spotify, etc. easily disproves this. Please, while making a good argument, try not to include grandiose overstatements that discredit your entire position for no good reason.
Subscriber count is not telling of what the "vast majority" is doing. Subscriptions to quasi-gate-keepers also can't be compared to "street market" one-time purchases