Agree, I've always though "tipping culture" is wishful thinking, flying in the face of reality. And I am someone who often donates one-off to open source projects I like, but this kind of funding never seems to properly "stick".

The model that I like is (a) subscription and (b) not often tried yet, but: paying incrementally for new content in crowdfund style (per paragraph; per chapter of video or book or whatever). Creating a social contract between a consumer and a provider of content, where the provider *clearly defines a ruleset*, is something that's always seemed to work. Look e.g. at patreon.