Thanks for all the informative and kind responses!
I should also note that I'm not interested in changing my browser, adding extensions, or other workarounds. I have no issue with sites that have a fee - after all, the writers, editors, and others involved deserve to be reimbursed.
But if I know an article is pay-walled, I can check the sources I do subscribe to, and see if they picked it up off the wire as well. Opinion/Editorial pieces are where it gets tricky. π
@Synical Without modification many browsers will let you read firewalled articles by clicking 'Reader mode' icon - on firefox its on the right end of address bar on google its under more tools on the menu. Don't know on others but all should have it
@Synical A: "Won't you please make this one small change to help solve this issue?"
B: "Why not try doing these other things that don't require me to do anything different?"
You see it all the time. :)
@Synical
I wrote code for Internet Message Processors (running on tractor-sized PDP-8s) when the Internet was still the ARPAnet.
Everybody OWES me, that's how I see it.