[andrewguenther]

Having a "buy me a coffee" link is an incredibly terrible way to monetize to the point where I highly doubt that the vast majority of these are profit motivated as the author implies.

I have personal projects that I pay >$100/mo to operate. I can afford to do so, it is not impactful to my life. People have, without prompting, offered to give me money for these projects as a way to show appreciation. I have no intent to ever make money off of these things, I don't even hope to break even, but offering some money is a material way to show appreciation for a service you find valuable and I don't think there should be any shame in it.