There are services that are actually free, those who don’t sell your data and still manage to stay afloat. I use a lot of these. I like the Freemium model, I like the fact that the community is paying for my use of a great service till I can stand on my own two feet. So, I was wondering if there were any services you used for free once but once you got money, you started supporting it. It makes more financial sense to go with folks who offer only paid services, because you essentially are not bearing the cost of those who are not yet able to pay (or will never pay), but are there instances where you went with the company who was providing you free service for all those years out of gratitude?
I use ProtonVPN and I trust the folks at ProtonVPN and hopefully someday be buying a paid plan although some say it’s overpriced! What about you. What is the service you plan on paying for one day or one you are paying for now out of gratitude and a sense of community?
Also, it doesn’t have to paid, let’s say you became a tor node because you wanted to help the service you believe in. Or something like this, you get the idea!
Also, thanks to admins and devs of lemmy.ml as I was able to get in without any fuss even after using Tor Browser. And screw reddit for blocking me : )
Edit: It will take me sometime to reply (perhaps a day) but I want to hear you!
I have a paid proton account, recently upgraded. Yes, it’s not cheap but i do feel like supporting them and i am very pleased with them and their services. And yes, i do donate to some services, provided i trust them (no shady business like tracking, selling my data etc), they don’t keep nagging me for money, and i use it a lot. And i don’t do subscriptions, it should be one time only or when i feel like wanting to spend some money to support them, if i can miss it. I recently also donated to Lemmy, because the devs are so transparent in what is happening, what kind of difficulties they run into, what their thoughts are, etc. I enjoy Lemmy a lot. While it is different from reddit - where i subscribed to little niche things that are not present in the fediverse just yet -, i really feel like most people are kind, helpful, and enthusiastic to help make Lemmy a vibrant alternative. I never spend a cent for reddit.
Edit: i also paid for the Simple apps in f-droid, really like those a lot, so i wanted to show my gratitude to the dev
I look forward to be someone like you dude! seriously! I want to do everything you are doing, not out of compulsion but as a form of gratitude, as a thank you!