[trolly]

Screw that. I'm not paying for an article before I even know whether it's hacky garbage or actual journalism.

As if the temptation for these sites to pump out clickbait isn't bad enough as it is....

Unless you mean a completely passive option to give them a "tip" so to speak.

In which case I'm not saying it's a bad idea but how is that any different than donating once a year to NPR and PBS during their "Oh-God-Kill-Me-Now-athons." Or in the case of for-profit sites, paying for however many months of subscription fees you feel is appropriate for the value you received.

[Johnny555]

I guess it could be some honor system "pay when you leave". Or maybe let you review the article "Was this worth 8 cents to you?" and display the votes before you pay so you can decide if it's worth the money. Or maybe you can flag an article as clickbait and get your money back.

[w-ll]

Could it be a function of time on page, maybe even with scroll distance. You generally know if the article will be garbage in the first paragraph or two and always before the fold (doubly so before the fold if there wasnt ads taking up the top 75% of the page)

[mercer]

Blendle's 'no questions asked' money-back guarantee works pretty well. You pay the moment you open the article, and if you don't like it you click on the link in the top left to get your money back.