[ycombinete]

That's weird, I've only ever used "subscription" as per this definition[0]:

"A subscription is an amount of money that you pay regularly in order to belong to an organization, to help a charity or campaign, or to receive copies of a magazine or newspaper."

[0] https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/subscri...

[f1refly]

I get what you mean and I think the other guy was indeed misleading about this, but there really are lots of contexts where subscriptions are free. In the classic postal sense newsletters are mostly free (and yes, mostly spam), when a program "subscribes" for events from another program there isn't cost involved; and most importantly youtube channel subscriptions exist.

I also had the impression he implied paying for lichess, but technically the word subscription doesn't necessarily have that meaning in our current time any more.

[ycombinete]

Understood. I must be using it more pedantically than most. I think I use "sign-up/register/account" in those newer contexts.

[kzrdude]

Youtube has a subscribe button, and there is no money involved.