Not saying I like the ad model but how else are people to make money to keep software going. Not enough people donate which is why we have some much Ads currently.

It took many years for reddit to take off to become a huge player on the internet. Digg, Twitter, and myspace where the big players in 2005 to 2010. Then people started to move to Facebook, Snapchat, and Reddit as they became more popular. It only a matter of time until Mastodon, Lemmy and other federated platforms take over. Especially if the community keeps growing and spreading the word.

They still have families and people that love and care about them.