I agree that we need a clear path to financial sustainability. 

But zaps can also be a deterrent for some users. In some parts of the world, buying Sats without KYC is very difficult. So far nostr is fun and I like many users in nostr, but I have not yet seen any feature that makes it worth giving up personal info just so I can zap. 

The ecosystem needs paying / zapping users. And to get more users the apps need to offer values that the users want to pay for. I much prefer that users have the options to help either using zaps or/and fiat money.

I happen to be technically curious, so I am learning to host my own strfry relay. It's been running for almost three weeks, but I still don't know how this is helping nostr or me, if at all.

And I would like to see more newbie-friendly docs. I think it is useful to grow the user base. 

 None of these things are mutually exclusive. Finding a way to make larger specialized relays and clients with extra features and sustainable business models doesn’t exclude at all the plethora of free options or self hosted options. Just the opposite, they all make each other more valuable. 

I fully expect to see a huge variety of models over time, I’m simply not seeing much in the way of the “premium” or paid models that I think are critical to get robust and sustainable scaling.