I don’t mind giving money in exchange for useful services. I pay for YouTube because I recognize they need money through some channel, and I’d rather I just be

I don’t mind giving money in exchange for useful services. I pay for YouTube because I recognize they need money through some channel, and I’d rather I just be up front and pay them for their service. Likewise I pay for Kagi, protonmail, Disney+, arstechnica, and a small variety of other service and media providers that provide value to my life. In fact, I would always rather pay up front than have them figure out some way to exploit me to fund their operations. I don’t mind they offer alternative ways of monetizing than a subscription. A lot of folks can’t afford to pay like I can. But I deeply value the option to pay. I’m not a fan of ad blocking on services you use that offer a pay option. I am fine with blocking in general, but if they offer the chance to just give them your money and you can afford it, you should. Every service should offer a chance to just give them your money instead of data harvesting and ad spamming as the only option. I’m a huge supporter of open source and free software for over 35 years now, but people who make a living off their software, media, art, music, etc, should be supported as well. There’s nothing wrong with making a living doing what you love, but there’s something wrong with expecting people to give you their labors and services for free.