[k101]

And how can fediverse survive, and how can it pay for servers? Who among the professionals will do this? If you leave this system only for enthusiasts, then you can leave everything as it is and improve only the code. And if you want to overthrow the monopoly without violence, then the authors will need monetization tools and not necessarily advertising . Linux would not have become so popular without redhat and other commercial companies. P. S I myself really like everything free and use only open source software, give donates periodically to the authors.

[proactivesvcs]

How does it / will it pay for servers? This is a great question and I can guarantee if you set up an account somewhere, and start asking instance admins this question, you'll find out exactly how. I'd answer your question but you'll get much more organic answers and they'll answer you in a way you'll believe and understand far better than just from me.

The system is not, and was never, just for technology enthusiasts. The majority of people I chat with probably wouldn't know their RAM from their GPU and I wouldn't expect them to. Sure there are a lot of Linux/FOSS enthusiasts there, but they're the minority.

I don't know anyone trying to overthrow monopolies by running an instance because again, I say that not everyone's motivation for everything they do is for the acquisition of wealth.