As much as I hate to say this I would deal with ads form relays if I knew the node runner was getting enough income to keep the node running.
Discussion
Well, it will be fun to see how clients/relays figure out how to stay sustainable over time. Either through subscriptions, cost per event, ads, VCs, etc.
People have been getting used to every platform on the internet being "free". I think it will take a long time to convince people to pay for the service they use. We obv got a bunch of bitcoiners on nostr that supports and gets the "value4value" mindset but we're barely a minority.
I am sharing my own relay in cheap hardware, for long time is cheaper than any internet suscription.