Well, an instance could decide they wanted to try to make money, but I think everyone would just bail on them. People are more than happy to help out servers with donations, no need to make it a business venture.

The scenario of companies opting to host instances may happen, just to try to jump into the bandwagon, which could imply they could/would at some point start to run ads but I'd risk the instance would quickly be defederated and/or turned into a hell pit.

But the notion of seeing an instance being run by GOG, Valve/Steam (not a client or fan but I aknowledge they have put a lot of work towards Linux and gained a lot of support because of it), AMD (fanboy here, give me a pass), RPi (I am aware of the shady turn they have undergone) and other companies that have some degree of respect in the Fediverse could be interesting.

Yes, but CAPITALISM!!!

Well except for apps like Boost which are proprietary and has ads.

It wasn't this way before. Lemmy had existed for years before Eternal September.

less populated

This is the part I feel.

Fuck. You're my favorite user 😰 we can't be letting you down!

"this"

For your edification and posterity. This. What you just wrote. I totally agree. Like a chef serving a bowl of stew, you stuck your ladel into my brain and from my incoherent abstract thoughts were able to form the exact sentiment of what it is I was feeling. Down to a decimal of a decimal, more perfectly than I ever could have iterated, you captured the essence of every nuance I experienced relating to the subject matter. No words could portray the awe I felt knowing that somebody shared the exact same thought process as me. Not only that, but with the ability to articulate in such a refined manner the depth of said thought process. No words could describe that feeling. Except one. This.

Beat me to it

This.

Right like holy shit! I never even knew what the term tankie was till I came to Lemmy.

It's like some people here want Stalin back in power, but for the whole world.

Some apps let you block instances. Lock out Lemmygrad and Hexbear and you don't see that many tankie takes unless you go looking.

I think there's a few of them but they are highly vocal and unhinged. I only had to block 2 of them, and things seem pretty okay right now.

Seriously block that fucking instance. I havent seen any tankies since the drama blew up.

Freedom of speech allows for freedom for everybody to speak for better or worse. This is an essential human right and should not be suppressed unless it harms one another.

It's actually not that expensive but moderating that shit is horrible!