Add a paid layer, with premium features. Make premium features a gift option to other accounts, so that it could be a token of appreciation.
Add a paid layer with the only paid feature being a "proud supporter" badge. Surprisingly many people take pride in that when it costs them a $5.
Add a donation button, run donation campaigns. It works for Wikipedia :)
There's no need to avoid being paid.
We simply charge £2.99 per year. We won't block any features from unpaid users unless we're running at a loss.
Another idea would be to somehow help me keep the important people on the service by paying for me and for them in one go, but I can't readily come up with something that sounds enticing.
If you actually used the idea, I'd be thoroughly flattered.
A subscription to Lyra costs £2.99 (about $3.70) per year. That's cheaper than a shit coffee. (Member of the team here)
That's a hell of a marketing slogan.
And this one: https://www.hellolyra.com/about?page=how-lyra-compares
The points which are most blindingly marvellous are a) control over your audiences and your news feed and b) a respect for language and words, which comes across in lots of different places in the interface.
Can you please give an example of how Lyra encourages a respect for language and words, when it is not moderated?
I'm trying hard not to be rude, as I respect anyone who produces their own platform, but as I see it, the only thing that makes words extra important in Lyra is the fact that it doesn't support images and other media.
We are basically saying: your words are important, and we won't hide them.
Another massively important way in which we value language is that we don't build tools for the viral spreading of clickbait into our platform.
Moderation is a separate issue from whether you respect language or not. Lyra is carefully designed to be harrassment-proof without the need for moderation. We do this by prioritising people rather than online spaces (like forums or subreddits).
And frankly, the UI is clunky af!
Lyra isn't aiming to move into Reddit's space. Reddit is a machine for sorting strangers' comments by interestingness.
The UI is constantly improving; can you tell us some specific issues you have so that we can look at them?
Please don't misunderstand me, Wikipedia is also nonprofit and seems to work quite well, and it's a noble goal. I just happen to also remember my "eternal, irrevocable and always free" [email protected] email address. They went bankrupt pretty rapidly. (I'm pretty sure that was the domain then, now it seems to be owned by some guide to US states and cities.)