Digg is currently allowing users to pay $5 to get in first and help test the platform.
It was created by the same people as reddit, and will ultimately suffer the same fate as reddit. It solves nothing, but users will prefer it because a smooth UX is so important, and Lemmy doesn’t offer that yet.
And to be honest, the $5 Charge that they’ll apparently donate isn’t a bad idea to combat bots.
SomethingAwful can afford to ask for money because they have good content and dedicated people though.