I pay for Sync and Telegram. Telegram doesn't even have ads, I just want to throw money at the things that provide me entertainment and value on a daily basis. Just because you don't like to pay for things doesn't mean you should project that mindset onto other people.

I paid for sync for Reddit, I donated to my Lemmy instance and I'll pay for Sync for Lemmy once I decide for myself whether I take the subscription, simply ad free or one time payment for ultra. As there's still fixes to the pricing going on I'll wait out for that

I guess I'm biased with paying for software since I work at a company that makes software it also offers in its' own SaaS platform. I literally maintain the infrastructure so I'm intimately familiar with those costs. I appreciate anyone who offers software and service for free. But there's always a cost and if you want premium service you'll need to pay for it.

That is ofcourse another justification and easy one since paying for sync is almost nothing to me. I do hope the free Sync keeps being a good alternative for anyone who wants to try it.

I don't even use sync

I don't want to feel good. I DO feel good. The truth is there would be no need to justify anything were it not for all the FOSS zealots throwing shade instead of just minding their business. Stop worrying about whether we feel good, and start thinking about why you want others to feel bad.

No, reddit demanded ludicrously high fees at barely 30 days notice. It gave nobody any time at all to figure out alternative monetization strategies. Many of the third party apps had expressed their willingness to pay, but that was just absurd

The other choice is free though. You don't have to pay.