[konart]

$18 can be "expensive".

People live in different conditions, have different income and (even more crucial) different expenses.

Not to mention subjective need. I may be interested in a relay, but I don't really need one. So for me 18$ will be too much. 5$? Maybe. (This is about as much as I'm paying for Fastmail right now, for example).

[croon]

The point isn't "literally everyone can run it", but to refute that "only Bluesky can run it and thus lock everyone in".

[sellmesoap]

I'll go halfers with you, any other takers? I feel like sharing infrastructure via small online co-ops can take the bite out of the cost. So much cheaper then the cost of being the product via meta/goog etc.