even things like transcripts and investor presentations that can be found for free elsewhere are behind the paywall makes zero sense. 
i understand charging for bespoke content/analysis (maybe even the news articles that are basically copy/paste), but charging premium pricing for publicly available content? Just makes no sense and it is a 100% deviation from what seeking alpha had promised not so long ago (something they have not addressed in any of their communication around the paywall). 

What really irks me is the bait and switch tactic. They build up a user base that has taken the time to curate their portfolios, authors to follow, etc. The users did so under one set of assumptions that was even confirmed by SA not that long ago, ie that basic news will always be free (which makes sense since that basic news is indeed free on lots of other sites such as Yahoo Finance). This would also allow you to participate in the discussion, which, as many have pointed out, is probably the most valuable part of SA. Now SA is trying to pull a fast one and effectively start charging for access to what each individual user has built up inside the SA ecosystem. I say good riddance and once I have invested the time to replicate my footprint elsewhere I will probably never log in here again. It’s a shame because the community here is (was?) pretty knowledgeable and engaged.

The value of SA was primarily in the discussion forum attached to each article. Definitely not worth paying $30 for the pro version and the discussion forums will dry up (I am recreating my portfolio in Yahoo Finance right now), so even less point on paying now. Why would I pay for basic articles that I can get for free elsewhere (sans the discussion)? Hopefully others will follow to Yahoo and bring a (somewhat) high quality discussion there. 

Too bad SA - enjoyed our relationship while it lasted.