[MichaelZuo]

> A paywall is great if your goal is to use it as a stick against non-paying folks

It wouldn't count as a stick since it's not punishment for some behaviour. There's obviously an ongoing cost to running a website, and not just a one-time cost at the beginning, so I think it would be widely accepted for an annual contribution to be mandatory.

(Excluding deranged folks demanding free services, or those who can't comprehend that ongoing costs exist. Which should only be a tiny segment of the community)

[lazyasciiart]

Plenty of people can't afford an annual contribution, or aren't part of the site on an ongoing basis and wouldn't consider it worth it - but the site still wants their involvement, and specifically doesn't want to push the demographics of contributors further towards "people who can and will pay regular amounts".