It is not free. It takes a ton of time to build and maintain this software. And people including myself do donate to help out.
If you’re thinking all software developers will switch philosophies suddenly to think like you, I don’t really know what to tell you other than that will absolutely never happen.
Ps. Did you really think there was a chance you needed to remind me Lemmy is not commercial software?
Pps. I typically use boost to view Lemmy and that is commercial software. Showing there is no need to expect everyone to develop all software for free. $3 was a fuckin bargain