Of course, ads are always a possibility, but being Open Source and having an open API, means that users can use any app they want, including apps without ads.
Basically if servers will post ads, then users will have the choice to view those ads as means of supporting that server, but not as something enforced at them by the server.
I’m also not convinced that Lemmy will stay ad free. If this keeps growing sooner or later instance cost will be a problem that ads can solve.
Of course, ads are always a possibility, but being Open Source and having an open API, means that users can use any app they want, including apps without ads.
Basically if servers will post ads, then users will have the choice to view those ads as means of supporting that server, but not as something enforced at them by the server.