In a discussion titled ‘How would I install a cryptocurrency paywall?’, Yalla_Papi seeks to restrict topic creation in certain categories to users who pay a one-time fee, rather than locking content behind a paywall. Mevo suggests using the ‘Unlock Discourse’ plugin for NFT-based paywalls or spirobel’s Monero-based subscription plugin. spirobel clarifies that category permissions can be configured so only paying members (e.g., ‘Builders’ group) can create or reply to topics, while others can still view them — ideal for monetizing participation, like newspaper comment sections. merefield questions the logic of charging users to create free content, but spirobel defends it as a way to ensure meaningful, non-bot-driven participation, especially in the age of AI. Yalla_Papi clarifies the context: it’s a marketer community where users pay to post in a ‘Marketplace’ section to sell products — which merefield finds reasonable. spirobel later moves the broader debate to a meta topic on public discourse and AI.
Like the title says, how would I do this?
What I would like to do is charge members for a certain trust tier. So basic (free) users can do most things, but ones who pay get special privileges. Is there a plugin or something that I can use for this?
Thanks in advance
You would click on the search function at the top right of your screen and enter “crypto paywall”. This would give you this as the first answer: Discourse Unlock
It is a solution working with NFTs which can have a time limit. Look it up.
@spirobel also worked on a version of Discourse subscriptions but with Monero, which is amazing!
I didn’t try it myself yet and it’s admittedly a bit harder to find. Here it is: GitHub - spirobel/monero-discourse-subscriptions: A Discourse plugin that allows payments and subscription management via Monero. · GitHub
So I don’t want to lock topics behind a paywall, I want to lock the ability to post to certain categories behind a paywall.
For example only members who pay a one time fee can create topics in a certain section.
That is possible. Take a look at the category security settings page:
The Builders group would for example be the group that people pay subscription access for.
You are free to add the everyone group as well and remove the create and reply permissions. So everyone can see the posts (no paywall) but people have to pay to create topics and reply to them.
(You could go even more fancy and charge extra for people to create topics vs just being able to reply)
So this plugin can be used to create a newspaper like service where you have to pay to be able to write comments.
Or many other ideas are possible!
I must admit I find this form of monetisation hard to comprehend.
You want to charge people to create free content for you?
That is the monetization method that many newspapers use.
For example to comment on welt.de you need pay for a monthly subscription.
People want the feeling of getting heard. They want their opinion to be recognized. They want to actively take part in forming the public opinion.
It makes sense to charge for this, especially in the age of LLMs. Maybe we even ought to charge for it.
It is so easy to manipulate the public opinion now thanks to this new technology. So there has to be a barrier to entry that can’t be easily gamed.
Really? I thought most papers implemented paywalls to permit reading. That is the main motivation?
For the UK papars: Telegraph, Times, FT, these all have paywalls to permit reading.
Facebook, Twitter will not have succeeded if it they had charged people to comment?
maybe we can discuss this over here:
I made a separate topic for this. I think it makes sense to discuss this on a meta level. It is a big topic.
Actually it’s a community of marketers, so I want to charge a one time fee for them to be allowed to post in the Marketplace section to sell their shit.
aaah, that makes sense! 
