It's 100% needed. I was right there nodding in agreement, especially after several nostr devs went after Bitcoin maxis as if they've not been the niche bootstrapping and propping the whole thing up.

Nostr is far from a guarantee. Your normal retail user has no problems trading their metadata for "free" access to social media networks. If nostr clients/services need to monetize to survive, that is an uphill battle to buck user service expectations.

Considering most users crosspost across all of their socials, there really isn't no velvet rope theory in effect, either.