Right, there is resistence to paid relays for some reason but I can only see it coming from the client side.. saying "relays can protect against spam" but without lightning it doesn't work. Doing it how? Paid is the only way to fend off multi-key bots.
For example, on NYE, a bot filled my entire relay, commenting to everyone Happy New Year, while the japan earthquake was in full force. Many japanese left my relay that day, and that's why I went to paid model. I was sick of these targeted attacks and lightning is the only way to prevent them. IP limits don't work, rate limiting doesn't work, spending tons of time coding detection is just an arms race and the bots always find a way to get through while regular users get penalty. The bots won't get through lightning verification though it will exhaust their funding even in small amounts.
