I’m sorry to say it but I feel ashamed that the vast majority of Blender users don’t make even the smallest financial contribution to the organisation. I think that’s the dark side of it, dark and shameful.
Come on, a bit of dignity,
EDIT
I would appreciate it if you realise what I am saying. I’m not saying that third world users have to pay, nor am I saying that you shouldn’t use Blender for free if that’s what you want, nor am I belittling users who contribute to Blender development in ways other than donations. What I am saying is that it is a shame that the vast majority of users don’t contribute a single cent.
It’s obvious that many users can’t afford a donation, bless them. But between that and almost nobody donating a penny here and there to support the project they claim to love so much there’s a big difference. and yes, I think it’s a problem of civility and having a constructive attitude.
Blender is free and open source. It is free to use. Nobody has to pay for it or be shamed for not paying. It’s not dark. It’s awesome. I don’t think it’s right to shame people for using Blender the way it’s meant to be used - for free. You should encourage support, instead of trying to punish or shame people who chose not to.
If you use Blender and don’t pay for it, there is nothing wrong with that! No dignity is lost. It’s just that it’s really awesome if you can support the developers and donate.
Indeed
What an elitist first world
attitude.
Please consider the possibility
that there are people in some regions of the world, using the default
Blender on a barely capable, donated, refurbished PC, who cannot even afford to buy add-ons much less donate money to the BF.
To add a bit more to MartynZ post, there are plenty of users that thought not contributing financialy to the cause, do it in other ways such as reporting bugs, presenting suggestions, and even committing code to the source.
And we shall not forget the big chuck of users that do actively make the community stronger, either by writing tutorials, teaching new users or sharing tricks and secrets.
