I’m a FOSS (free and open source software) contributor and enthusiast. So I prefer to use such products (Lemmy instead of Reddit, Linux instead of Windows, Firefox instead of Chrome, Signal instead of WhatsApp, you get the idea). Was just thinking that if everyone moved to such solutions, the tech and ad industry would lose billions of dollars. That would translate to governments losing billions of dollars in tax revenue. Would such a move ever be encouraged then by the governments?
Donations, people always give Wikipedia as an example. You need to chip in every now and then. Wouldn’t that be better than “free” but your every click, scroll and interaction being tracked and you having an advertising profile being built in the background?
That makes sense, but Wikipedia is one “instance” instead of hundreds. If many instances start depending on donations and you are subscribed to even just a couple of them, donating to every single one could seem a little much, right? Not trying to be negative, just starting to wrap my head around this.