Oddbean new post about login | logout yes, but the fact they exist, are free and hold notes forever blocks people from searching for a paid solution. Why would you pay for anything if somebody is willing to do it for free?
up until now, people don't really see a difference between the paid and free because there's barely any... paid relays need to diferentiate themselves and actually survive and be performant so people trust them and not feel rugged by paying for 6 months and the relay disappearing after 2...
Speaking of search. Datsmining companies like google might run relays in the future. Just as they held back the development of video platforms, mail clients, map setvices, through sponsoring their own "free to use" products with revenue from google ads. A common good. But it made it very difficult to compete with, since hosting of such services are expensive. And difficult when competing with: "free to use"