This happens so often. It's not just in the freemium space either. I've seen companies use affiliate programs and low-ish prices in their early days, only to d

This happens so often. It's not just in the freemium space either. I've seen companies use affiliate programs and low-ish prices in their early days, only to dump the affiliate program and price model after they have garnered enough success and momentum. The pr they put out will chime about creating a sustainable business and it being good for the users. They will harp on how it's impossible to run the business without making the changes. Ideally, they try to play on guilt for haven given their userbase such a good deal or how bad affiliates had given them so much trouble. They do not talk about the fact that the strategies they employed that helped them be successful early on weren't dumb "mistakes", but simply ways to get momentum. In other words, they were using the users to propel a business. The right thing to do is to reward your early users (and affiliates if that is the case). Making parts of your userbase out to be a 'freeloader' just exposes a certain mindset some entrepreneurs have toward their users.