I’ve never purchased it, but a premium teir isn’t the worst idea ever. He just botched the rollout, devalued verification, and has broken and/or removed more tiny features than I can count. Not to mention shit just randomly stops working and his whole rate limiting debacle was clearly a failed attempt to alleviate server load.
Discussion
to me it looks like a very deliberate switch in the business model from advertising revenue based to monthly subscription based
If you pay, you receive premium services and the algorithm drives engagement to your account
If you don’t pay, the algorithm ignores you and your engagement is garbage
Classic rent seeking