It seems to me that they heard a suggestion for the site to be made available only to people who pay and the suggester was instead suggesting that there be a do

It seems to me that they heard a suggestion for the site to be made available only to people who pay and the suggester was instead suggesting that there be a donation / "buy me a beer" link. Indeed, there are ways to monetize such a thing that exclude both charging all of your users and selling advertisement space.