Its not free in the traditional sense, its just someone else pays for you. These projects work by being “free” with their biggest/most charitable users supporting it. Every major software project that runs the web, be it curl or python, works that way. You do not pay to use the service, you are instead paying to help delay the abandonment of the project and bring updates to improve your experience.

If you don’t particually want this project to succeed, then that’s fine, though you should probably pay your instance a dollar to cover the bills incurred by your own use of there resources.

That does explain some of my bewilderment at your stances in this conversation.

Nobody says you have to donate, but you are discouraging others to do so as well with your definitive statement of “no reason to donate”.

In effect, if nobody donates, we are putting 100% of the pressure on about a dozen individuals who run large instances and/or who develop the software. Overbearing financial pressure like that burns out good administrators.

Lastly, helping in any way you can is just plain neighborly. If you can’t help by donating, you can at least not discourage others from doing so. Even a “I appreciate the hard work that goes into this place” is a contribution.

Instead, you’ve chosen to basically say “I don’t care, not my problem, I don’t care if it burns”, which is a pretty rude thing to say in a thread directed as a thank you to the people who have put in all the hard work and time to make this place.

So, in summary, you don’t have to donate, you don’t have to care, but if you are discouraging others from caring and getting involved, you are no longer neutral, you are part of the problem.