It would be nice reward the author for making something that is useful, not just by patting him/her on the back. I think that is what heyoo is talking about
Creating a useful tool that becomes well known (or a de facto standard) in the community, a successful project you proudly add to your resume, can pay for itself and much more indirectly.
I respect non open source software very much. They put hard work into it, and I have absolutely zero, zilch right to ask for its source. I am willing and happy to pay for a service if it benefits me. OSS and non-OSS can coexist. There is no need to bash on non-OSS software. It's folks like you and me, writing code, providing for the family.
Github1s, I could see myself paying $50 for a yearly fee. I would use this thing all the time.
Good point. I think most people aren't aware that it costs €500 - €1000 to post a single job ad on an important platform.
Of course, the rate will be a lot lower for small companies, but with something like this you'd have perfect targeting. And you don't even need any invasive privacy tracking for targeting: Just let people buy ads on specific repos.
Also, at least in my personal experience, people really don't mind job ads. Job ads are the only ads I regularly click on, because I'm curious what companies are looking for (even though I'm not looking for a job)