I don't think that what to all practicality amounts to a tax on basic documentation for web technology would be a great thing or even a good idea. This would finally put an end to the Web as it was conceived.
(Yes, I walk every day, but this doesn't mean that I would welcome feet as a subscription service with the poor damned to crawling.)
You do know that MDN is considered to be the official documentation of the web and is backed by Google, MicroSoft, Apple, etc? Why in the world would you think it is okay to pay for something that is less than pocket change to maintain for these multi billion dollar behemoths?
Documentation should be free if you want people to use your platform in a coherent way. MDN has always been refreshing and to the point as compared to other sites.
I don't really care about what Google, Microsoft, or Apple do, it's useful to me so I'm happy to pay a small recurring fee for it. I pay for things that provide value to me.
I don't expect you to care, but wow I'm tired of car analogies. They're usually worse than simply talking about the subject at hand.
It's not at all like that. I pay a one-time fee to BMW to get a seat warmer feature, they're not constantly improving or updating them in my car. They're in my car and they're on or off. If they break and I value them, I pay to have them fixed.
MDN is updated often and I it makes my job easier. It makes constantly evolving spec much more digestible. I'd sorely miss it if it were gone tomorrow. It's a service, not a one-off feature.
(Yes, I walk every day, but this doesn't mean that I would welcome feet as a subscription service with the poor damned to crawling.)