Kind of like Elon Musk charging money for Blue Checks. I get it.

I suppose thinking of paywalls as a feature and not as a way to block users is rational to some, but wouldn't it just be easier to program a way to block users without requiring a payment that only some can easily use?

It almost seems like a reminder that some are more equal than others, which seems to go against the whole concept of a free, open source, de-centralized platform that is designed to prevent censorship... particularly if you have bitcoins