Yes, I understand. Making or having a service or product that entices users to spend a good amount of sats to use it monthly/yearly is key. If a relay does something very good for people, they will pay for it. The relay operator needs to advertise its benefits however. But relays are only one example. Just coding a hodgepodge of stuff for tips is doomed to fail.
Discussion
I agree with that wholeheartedly.
But here’s my fear: if relays have to offer a plethora of premium offerings (especially ones that are not FOSS where they can be deployed by anyone) then they will centralize, since the only competition with financial incentive will be full time devs.
I think like farmers markets or cash to cash transactions off the centralized radar.
Things can be done similarly in Nostr with zaps, and still be decentralized if devs offer a value that is worth a subscription. (Needing a free version and a paid upgrade version to things).
People will pay for an upgrade. Devs just need to think of the financial part before coding.
I definitely do not want centralization. This would make me leave. But I will pay for great decentralized things.