To some degree, it might help.
I wouldn’t have a problem with a monthly subscription fee (say $2 to browse/read only, or $4 for full-up permissions).
My idea would be that anyone can read for free, but only those in good $tanding can post and comment.
How about a fee to post vanities? Included in the price would be a ban on postings to the thread by humblegunner whining about blog flogging.
I’ve been a monthly donor for years. But if there had been a fee to browse, I’d have moved on from the beginning and never started.
I could go along with that, and would probably do a year’s worth at once, say at the beginning of the year.