Cosmetics.
Let’s offer paid cosmetics for users of your instance. Animated or custom banners, posts, new themes, etc.
It’s a model that works really well for Discord and League of Legends. Instances offering to sell aesthetic luxury to their user base could work for Mastodon too.
It’s non-invasive, it’s optional, it’s a great addition for some people, and it allows to raise funds to keep the hosted instances up and running.
Do you think it’s viable?
Mastodon as a protocol/software, not Mastodon gGmbH
I mean you could interpret their post that way, but it isn’t clear that they are suggesting branching off of mastodon to something else, kind of like how truth social did.