I often do not know if a link is paywalled, especially since it might be a 'gift link'.
As a result I find a response informing me helpful, since, unless I really care about the article, I'm not going to bother trying to find some other way of reading it. Meaning, that one word response has just saved me some time and a small amount of irritation.
What I'm saying is, that response isn't for *you*. It's for *me* and those like me. They are not whining, they are being helpful.