My guess is that the author learned a hard lesson that really only content creators can learn: If you offer something that is payment optional and on an anonym

My guess is that the author learned a hard lesson that really only content creators can learn: If you offer something that is payment optional and on an anonymous basis, 95%+ of people will take it for free. It doesn't matter how virtuous your audience speaks, if you are going to offer something for free and it's not face-to-face, almost no one will pay you.