Yes! This exactly. Put in a watermark or something if you are afraid people gain value without paying you. But requiring an account just to see how it works is too much friction. I moved on.
The interface also allow to comment, post and interact with the original HN platform. Credentials are stored locally and are never sent to any server, you can check the source code here: https://github.com/GabrielePicco/hacker-news-rich.