Pompeii: How badly are the hordes of tourists harming it's future?

Can’t read it as it’s behind a paywall.

Clear the cache of your browser or open in a private browser NYT allows you 3 free articles a month

I'm fortunate enough to have been to Pompei several times. It is one of my favourite places.
The problem is - how do you solve this. Pompeii is a wonder, and people want to see it - equally the site needs the revenue from tourists to keep up with repairs and restoration. So do you:
Charge 5x the price, and allow in 5x less - it is now €100 to enter, but there is a limit on the number of people who can come in per day. This means that only the relatively rich can enter?
Have a lottery - So many people a day can come in, revenue is boosted by a higher tourist tax to Italy in general. To ensure fairness you have a additional chances per day: Locals get 5 x chances, Italians 4x, Europeans 3x, countries whos decendents came from western Europe 2x, everybody else 1 chance per day.
Combination of both?

Effectively - you need to reduce numbers - and maintain revenue - but somehow give everybody a chance to get to see it. I'm not sure I know the answer.

I went to Pompeii in 2004 and there were no issues with too many people at the time I went. There seemed to be more stray cats outside the complex than people inside.

Has anyone tried to simply Google the official (Italian) website for Pompeii? (or Herculaneum or Vesuvius?) It's crazy how such a touristed place has no-easy-to-access website which could help greatly in communicating visitor expectations (preferably in multiple languages). The web infrastructure in Southern Italy is simply underwhelming. No wonder people go with third parties all the time to get info, tickets, etc. Having said that, Pompeii was amazing and I'm glad I visited (and thank goodness for guidebooks).

PS. it's a possessive "its" (as in "its future")

As an early riser, I always wish places opened at 7:00am instead of 9:00am or 10:00am --- this wouldn't help a busy site MUCH, but it would help a little.

We last visited Pompeii in July 2001, got there when it opened, and had it mostly all to ourselves for the first hour. Then it became super crowded and, to make it bearable, we had to keep telling ourselves and our 8-year-old it was probably exactly that crowded in all the years before the volcano eruption. It sounds as though the crowding is much worse now.

preferably in multiple languages

http://pompeiisites.org/ You mean 8 languages are not enough according to you?

Thanks for the help with the official Pompeii website, I must have missed it because it doesn't appear anywhere near the top in a Google search (plus, I was assuming an official site would end with ".it/", not "org") I can't find Herculaneum at all except when using the Italian name, which many people wouldn't know. The website is entirely in Italian.
http://ercolano.beniculturali.it/
I found Vesuvius at last: https://www.parconazionaledelvesuvio.it/en/

I was in Pompeii a few days ago - it was a free day, though I hadn't known that when I decided to go. it wasn't too busy, but it was the end of of October. I think that if a site like Pompeii isn't accessible to as many people who want to go see it, then what's the point of it being there? Block off the areas that are currently being researched, and store away the smaller and more fragile items from people's access (which are already being done), and then let people see and learn from the history of the site.

It's very different from overtourism of a place that affects the quality of life of the people living there - this is an empty historical site, not a downtown square or ocean shore. More important that worrying about the number of people there is simply enforcing basic rules - which probably means hiring a bunch more people.....I think that's a smarter thing to do than restricting people from visiting.