I think you’re wildly underestimating the cost of people’s time, resources, infrastructure etc

“You can’t have it both ways” is exactly right. If the internet was user funded, as in, the user subscribes to every website or internet service they wish to use, then the internet would probably stop existing. (maybe I’m being too dramatic but also maybe not)

What’s the true cost of YouTube without ads or data harvesting? Probably only the rich could afford a subscription, which in turn would destroy the platform user base.

Absolutely agree with your comment.

I don’t really know the solution either… I can’t afford to pay for all the things I enjoy online.

I was considering supporting 1 Twitch streamer I enjoy until I saw subscription cost. And if I paid that for every streamer or YouTuber I enjoy, I’d be broke in a single day lol.

I get so much incredibly good info and discussions online about my hobbies, all for no charge.

I used to subscribe on Patreon to my most useful resources/people, but in the end I just could afford it and had to cancel all my Patreon

I hate ads but I don’t understand how the internet would function without ads. No one could afford it

It’s really the phrasing “average joe”. I would genuinely give the average Joe a strong recommendation to not self host.

A beginner wanting to learn to be more techy and willing to put in hours for troubleshooting etc? Sure go ahead. But thats definitely not the average Joe.

My biggest advice to a beginner would be to buy a spare budget router, plug it into your ISP router, plug your pc into the new router and do all your messing around in your own network.

Break the internet because of bad configure? No stress, it’s only your little network, your flatmates/family aren’t yelling at you.

Can’t figure out what you did wrong and want the internet back to search? Just plug your pc back to the untouched ISP router so you get internet again

Self hosting nothing changed my life.

So much free time and less stress once I abandoned self hosting 😅