zlacker

Idea 1. Charge for memberships like Metafilter.

I believe in the Quaker rule, "Only speak when you can improve the silence." Other people think speech is like squatting on land. You have to speak to gain footing. By charging people for the privilege of speaking, you make them consciously decide whether what they have to say is worth the $5 to join. They will probably say no.

>>sunir+(OP)
> You have to speak to gain footing.

I suspect that this is true, however. The earlier a comment is made, the more time it has to accrue upvotes before readers move on. I suspect there would be measurable correlation between the time of posting and the ultimate score of comments.

>>sunir+(OP)
When you say for memberships, shouldn't you mean charge for comments? It wouldn't affect the site much if I could still sign in, save threads, set procrast etc. Which would still be useful to many users.

>>decade+za
You could make the charge wall control:

  * posting a comment
  * voting on a comment
  * submitting a link / question
  * voting on a submission

Each of those are debatable. For instance, submission voting might be open to all but comment voting is not.

An interesting variant: You can 'keep' a link without paying, but if you are paying, your 'keep' is the counted as a 'vote'.