Would you pay a nominal amount (like 5 cents or 25 cents) to consume one piece of good, ad-free content, assuming that there was no login, no account, no friction, etc? You click, you read, and 5 cents is magically transferred from you to the writer?

I would. But I've asked a lot of people who say "no, I don't want to pay when I can read it for free. I don't mind the ads that much."