| The split | Investigation text can stay free; the interactive board is the Premium layer. |
|---|---|
| Soft-lock | A soft-lock teases the board — it is not the same as hiding the article body behind checkout. |
| On Gnosis | See plans on Pricing; creators can still publish free work that earns trust. |
Gnosis separates two products readers often conflate: the investigation (the narrative and claim) and the Evidence Board (the map of pins, links, credibility, timeline). Free membership is meant to let people read and start publishing. Premium exists so the full board — filters, map, and deep pin work — can stay sustainable without turning every paragraph into a checkout wall.
What stays free on purpose
A free investigation can still state a claim, show key excerpts, and link sources. That is the newsroom standard we practice on Gnosis News: readers should be able to check you. If the only honest version of the story is locked, you do not have a free investigation — you have a teaser ad.
What Premium unlocks
The full Evidence Board is where complex cases become navigable: many exhibits, relationships, and credibility labels. Building and browsing that layer costs product and infrastructure work. Pricing it as Premium keeps free reading intact while funding the tool serious investigators use daily. Details and plans: app.gnosis.news/pricing.
Soft-lock is not a paywall
When the board is soft-locked, guests see that the map exists and what Premium adds. They should still be able to read the investigation body you marked free. Do not treat soft-lock as permission to hollow out the article. Trust compounds when free readers finish a complete argument and choose Premium for the workshop view.
Do this next on Gnosis
If you are starting: Starter Kit → free account → first investigation. If you already publish and need the board: Go Premium. Creators who want to sell work can continue to Publish & earn.
Hub: Investigation Methods.
Why the split exists
Building an interactive board — pins, filters, relationships, media, and performance at scale — is closer to shipping software than to posting an article. Pricing that layer as Premium keeps Gnosis from having to put a meter on every paragraph. It also gives serious investigators a reason to fund the tool they use as a daily workshop.
Newsrooms have long separated the story from the internal case file. We make a version of the case file legible to readers who opt in, without requiring casual readers to buy a ticket to learn the claim. That is the editorial theory behind soft-lock: show that the map exists; do not hollow the free text.
Creator implications
If you publish on Gnosis, write the free investigation as if Premium did not exist. Then add board structure for people who want to navigate dozens of exhibits. When you sell PPV or catalog access, be explicit about what free users still receive. Trust collapses when “free” means a headline and a checkout wall.
Premium is also how the product funds moderation, storage, and creator payouts infrastructure. Linking Pricing is not a digression in a Methods piece — it is part of explaining how evidence-backed publishing stays online.
Reader checklist
Free: can I read the claim and check key sources? Premium: can I explore the full pin map and filters? Soft-lock: do I understand what I am missing without being misled about what I already got? If any answer is no, the packaging needs work before the marketing does.
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