I’ve seen this idea a lot over the last… decade and I don’t buy it. I’m not just a user, I also run a free ssb node for 10$ a month just because I want to. this is about the minimum thing you can do, I’m not being hammered or otherwise having to pay a lot.
However. In my experience, paying for a service… i dunno. IMO the idea that user payment can circumvent the need for ads is wrong. ultimately they still show you ads. and on top of that IMO a paying user is a “mark”. If they pay they can be relied upon to pay more. and case in point everything I’ve ever paid for has ended up fucking me. in both cases (LOL) selling out to microsoft and ending up with “well we’ve invented new payment tiers so cough up your phone number and more money etc”. just my experience 🤷♂️