Comment by johnnyanmac

This is honestly why I think a non-free platform is the best way to run in the modern era. Especially with the advent of LLM's. It can even be as cheap as a dollar, and that will solve so many issues at once. (note, it can be higher than $1 if needed. SomethingAwful had the infamous "ten bux" for this process).

- spam is now too expensive to bother. Free x infinite is free. $1 now means spam costs thousands to try and uphold. Not worth low effort content

- Rule enforcement is much more tenable now because ban evasion has a cost. Is someone really going to pay $1 each time to try and post some porn or whatever else? 99.9% won't. That will give a feedback look where the community overall should get easier to moderate as it grows, not harder

- Needing to pay menas you also have a community that at least skews in the adult age. Kids don't/won't have easy access to a credit card for even a $1 payment.

The main problem is still the same as free platforms, though: network effects are very strong. Adding more hoops will make adoption harder, and that's arguably the hardest part of a new platofrm.