I’m sure it’s possible, but maybe this is a good time to reflect on what that would mean for the experience. Sure, maybe you wouldn’t mind, and maybe some other users who do would filter them out client side, but personally it feels like ads even if they start innocuous, eventually evolve into something invasive, deceptive, or both. At a certain point, if people aren’t clicking through and buying, the advertisers aren’t making money. It becomes almost a predatory relationship with the host trying to squeeze money out of the users whatever way they can.

Maybe not everyone could, but I feel a lot of people would rather throw in a few bucks a month to keep the lights on rather than deal with that.

Same sentiment, going to take some work but nothing wrong if it stays a bit different. Digging the decentralization and hoping that means that it can keep a community feel for longer, even as the total number of users in the fediverse grows!

I am testing out Jerboa, got a similar feel but missing a few creature comforts. Seems the developer is really working to update and smooth the roughness in the last month so I’m optimistic long term. I’d give it a try!

But what’s the end game? I seem to recall he fought pretty hard to prevent the purchase from going through and only when faced with a lengthy court battle that he would likely lose did he accept. And he is in for a fair amount of loss on that deal anyway.

Isn’t it a simpler answer that he is just incompetent and somewhat like sand, the more he tries to squeeze the users for money the more it slips through his fingers? The strategies he’s trying might work in other business types like the car industry but not one where it is wholly dependent on user content and engagement (and the ability to engender enough good will to sell ads)…