I find it quite interesting how most people miss the point.
Free/Non-paying Readers - Complaining Webnovel restricting free passes limiting what they can read without resorting to pirate sites one google search away.
Authors - Complaining that people refusing to pay means they get no income.
This thread seems filled with authors attacking Free/Non-paying readers and vice versa. However the reality is that authors signed a contract with Qidian/Webnovel and if they're unhappy with income then issue lies with Qidian/Webnovel who has either taken too big of a cut or they have a bad business model. On the other hand as far as Free/Non-paying readers go if Webnovel restricts free passes etc then you can simply vote with your feet and follow novels from different sites you can easily find on https://www.novelupdates.com/.
Either way this change doesn't affect me much. I remember when Webnovel still went by the name Qidian International that they promised no pay walls etc. With the gradual introduction of adwalls, then premium, then privilege most goodwill was gradually eroded into nothing. I used to read a few novels that had been poached from other sites but then they more or less all got dropped and while at the time I wasn't too happy in hindsight I think it's not too bad as it's meant I can completely leave the Webnovel ecosystem without any regrets.