I think we're pretty much in agreement, here. To use your examples, enough people contribute content to this site to 'pay for' the people who use that content. As to whether people would use any product that they couldn't get for free, the market is full of such products. And cable TV gets people to pay for their product by offering better quality or choice than the broadcasters put on the airwaves. So you do get what you (or someone else can) pay for.