Comment by pj_mukh
3 days ago
Do these major publications charge per article? They should, but they don't. So their whole sell is that in aggregate (so access to all, including old articles) they are worth paying monthly for.
In which case archive is a major revenue slumper
How would archive not be a revenue drain if there was pay per read articles? I would think the incentive to try to find a free version would increase not decrease, especially for a wide class of articles that are basically, “I’m curious but not that curious” which in aggregate I might pay money for (they add value to my subscription) but individually feel wasteful (do I really want to pay to satisfy this curiosity?)