Counterstrike: counterintuitive but dealing with the toxicity and probably getting massacred by smurfing players (or cheaters) still is a good outlet for the day's stress.

Always like the ones that get you down a rabbit hole... Most are apparently on the order of a couple of days to produce, utilizing a less compact weave at the expense of some durability and finish, but are much more affordable than the thousands that the more high end ones can cost (more around the $100 mark at the low end). Still likely an order of magnitude more than the artisan gets...

Also thought that with such a high price there would be a lot of fakes, which does appear to be a problem. Linked a site below that seemed to summarize well with photos some of those characteristics, if anyone else is interested. Can't say I'm in the market for a several hundred dollar straw hat, but to each their own!

How to Spot a Fake Panama Hat

I'm sure it's possible, but maybe this is a good time to reflect on what that would mean for the experience. Sure, maybe you wouldn't mind, and maybe some other users who do would filter them out client side, but personally it feels like ads even if they start innocuous, eventually evolve into something invasive, deceptive, or both. At a certain point, if people aren't clicking through and buying, the advertisers aren't making money. It becomes almost a predatory relationship with the host trying to squeeze money out of the users whatever way they can.

Maybe not everyone could, but I feel a lot of people would rather throw in a few bucks a month to keep the lights on rather than deal with that.

I am testing out Jerboa, got a similar feel but missing a few creature comforts. Seems the developer is really working to update and smooth the roughness in the last month so I'm optimistic long term. I'd give it a try!

But what's the end game? I seem to recall he fought pretty hard to prevent the purchase from going through and only when faced with a lengthy court battle that he would likely lose did he accept. And he is in for a fair amount of loss on that deal anyway.

Isn't it a simpler answer that he is just incompetent and somewhat like sand, the more he tries to squeeze the users for money the more it slips through his fingers? The strategies he's trying might work in other business types like the car industry but not one where it is wholly dependent on user content and engagement (and the ability to engender enough good will to sell ads)...