Would you pay $5/yr for HN?
pg: I'm pretty sure this is not the answer. Metafilter does this, and I would not want the kind of culture they have there.  What's prized there is sounding clever, and I wouldn't be surprised if the $5 fee was partly responsible-- if people were more willing to pay $5 to hear themselves talk than to e.g. answer a question someone had asked.