It probably goes against the philosophy or whatever of FOSS or Lemmy itself, but why not be a little evil so that you can actually sustain yourself? Donations can bring us far, but small non-intrusive ads can be a bliss in the skies for the people actually hosting the instance. Especially if there are millions of users uploading thousands of images and videos. This is extremely expensive.
Is running ads really that taboo?
EDIT: some people seem not to get the point of “millions of users”, which presumably includes non-techies that do not use adblockers. I mean that without ads (or mining?), no instance would be able to scale to the point where it can compete with Reddit for example. If you were to want that. And not for profit, but solely for sustainability.
Preach!
Before the internet (yes, I’m old), it seemed like there was broad opposition to advertising in general. Some eschewed television altogether, while others stuck to pbs and public access only (believe it or not, back then public tv had no ads!). With the rise of the dotcoms came a simultaneous resurgence of the false notion that advertising is essential to “capitalism”, by which people really meant " entrepreneurship". Now so many people are ready to accept advertising, believing that we can’t have good things without it.
I will never accept advertising as a necessary evil. It is just evil.
I’m there with ya, internet was available to me in ~94 when I was 15. it sure was a simpler time all around - I grew up running around in the forest, barefoot, floating rivers on inner tubes.
I dont hate advertisements - but I’ll do everything in my power to avoid viewing them