I wouldn't mind the $8 per month for a platform I use frequently if I get some nice benefits in usage and this enhances the quality of the platform. It is a bit naive to think such a service could be obtained for free.

However, beyond the general development Twitter has taken since Musk took over and especially how the premium memberships were rolled out - the conflation of paying for the account with being verified has killed that as an option for me. Nowadays the blue mark rather is an anti-pattern to many. This is what you get when you sell "reputation".