That's the thing though. You can get all the value from LWN through here. Even if it wasn't for them tolerating subscriber links being posted on HN, the week-long delay isn't nearly enough an incentive to actually subscribe, rationally speaking.

Rationally-speaking, maybe not. I’ve been a long-time subscriber. When I first subscribed, my day-to-day involved embedded Linux and getting the “breaking news” was pretty valuable. These days I still do that somewhat but I’m stuck on a crusty vendor kernel and anything I read about a kernel newer than 5.15 is going to land on my desk in approximately 2028… but I still subscribe, mostly with a patronage mindset: I don’t acutely get value from the subscription every week, but I think it’s a community service and I’m happy to pitch in a few bucks to keep it alive.

Wouldn’t rationally speaking you’d want to support them to keep them around? Or did you mean selfishly speaking?

I think the generosity and straightforwardness are a big part of the attraction for many subscribers.

They've always respected their readers and I hope that continues to pay off.

Easy to say until they have to eventually make the hard decision to shut down.

This is why nobody likes economists.

Selfishly speaking is the word you were looking for.

Well for me, at least, it's those features that make me a subscriber. If not for those I wouldn't do it

Rationally speaking, if you're getting value from it, you should be interested in its continued existence and therefore subscribe.