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At the end of the day, software developers need to eat. If they get to eat because their compensation model is driven by donations either before or after you use the app, who cares?
(Fair enough FOSS is free as in freedom, not just as in free beer, but I think that is moot to a lot of people, as long as the market space isn't crushed by anti-competitive buisness practices)
The bigger issue at hand here is negotiating fair API uses for instances and their admins, who also need to eat, and make the apps possible too.
Why not go the way of Wikipedia and ask for donations? Hell even early Reddit gold awards were good.
Users are cheapskates pretty often
Have you seen how much more desperate Wikipedia gets every time they need to beg for donations?
That's marketing BS. Wikipedia is very well funded and in fact they consistently blow way past their fundraising goals
They dont degrade the service until you pay. They dont lock features behind a paywall, they dont have ads. They beg you to pay, they dont extort you. Why does it matter that they seem desperate?
Would YOU want to feel that desperation if you were the creator wondering if you could make rent next month?
In Wikipedias case at least, the desperation is 100% marketing bluster and has been for at least a decade. Wikipedia is VERY well funded.