Your points are why i find a prescription model for a site like cougarboard odd, hes not paying reporters or editors. The content is provided by us and the moderation is by volunteer. I get that reddit has magnitudes more users, and therefore can charge more for ad space, and through scale of economy can afford to give more for less, but its not like cougarboard has high R&D or anything. They could have a subscription ad free model ($15-25 a year) and a donation option for those who just want to contribute to contribute (which many still would). Ive never seen a site where you had to drop subscription money just to have a profile picture, or access basic categories... or get push notifications)