A local story about a small Massachusetts bar dropping its mask rule turned into the Boston Globe's best-performing piece of the year — good for the paper, bad for the bar owner caught in the backlash.

• A lesbian bar and arts venue in Greenfield, Massachusetts said one night would be mask optional after years of requiring KN95s.
• Regulars turned on the venue online, calling the change deadly and ableist, with some comments going as far as wishing the place burned down.
• The Globe's write-up brought in thousands of new paid subscribers in a single day, and editors called it by far their strongest story of the year.
• The owner is the one paying for it: working several jobs, living in her vehicle, and owing her landlord about $3,900 by month's end.
• The wider point is a business can't survive on ideology alone — rent and food still have to be paid in cash.

Outlook: Expect the Globe to chase more stories in this vein now that it has found a subscription goldmine, while the bar's finances stay shaky.