💯 We've come to the same conclusion.

Software can be freely shared, without much loss to the originator, as they are simply documents (that's why they're free speech). But services (including relays) that are "free and public" are prone to being

* short-lived (due to running costs and longer-term effort),

* of low quality or with a small userbase (size matters, to this discussion, because it effects the amount of cost or effort involved),

* heavily subsidized (so, controlled by third parties, rather than the users),

* or overrun by scammers and spammers.