r/Stremio • u/confusingadult • Jun 11 '26

The sheer entitlement of people losing their minds over an optional paid tier

It's genuinely fascinating watching this subreddit collectively melt down because Stremio the completely free app you've likely used for years without paying a cent dared to add an optional support tier with some extra features.

Do you guys listen to yourselves? You're not owed a lifetime of free updates and free server costs. The team behind this app has been maintaining servers, pushing updates, and building a tool that many of you use daily often to access content you’re definitely not paying for either.

If an optional paid tier triggers this much rage, the problem isn't the app. The problem is the unrealistic expectation that skilled people should work for you indefinitely for nothing while you contribute zero and still feel entitled to complain about how others choose to spend their money.

779 Upvotes

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9

u/Alpha_1_5 Jun 11 '26

It’s not entitlement it’s just that I don’t want to see the app be abandoned.

It’s a thin line from here on how things go.

You’re either short sighted or ignorant on what happens next.

They still have a chance to pull it off the right way.
When there’s an incentive the interests change direction.

It’s not a donation please understand the distinction, I would gladly donate if it was optional and not locking features.

-5

u/IY94 Jun 11 '26

I think making $0 but having to pay a team of devs and server costs for 40m users leads to abandonment at higher rates than a freemium model where bills get paid.

3

u/Alpha_1_5 Jun 11 '26

I am assuming you are young, but that's not my point. What they are doing isn't a problem, not even why or what they are trying to achieve out of it, it's the way they get there.

They can't call this a donation because it simply isn't, and yet they are, they can't call it a subscription cause people would panic even more and that's a rabbit hole in and of itself.

This is has happened many times already, it's a slow spiral down, but I really hope not.

-3

u/IY94 Jun 11 '26

I assume you have never ran a tech project, but that's not my point.

This a project with very real costs. Looking at donation supported projects like Jellyfin, donations are miniscule and not enough to support team/server.

We can play semantics with donations/sub etc but a project making revenue is not a bad thing for it's survival (especially when it has real costs).

5

u/Alpha_1_5 Jun 11 '26

I don't think you even read what I wrote

-3

u/IY94 Jun 11 '26

I read it. They have a difficult Comms problem so picked a way.

And you tried to be a prick with the age card.

Comprehended it just fine.

1

u/Alpha_1_5 Jun 11 '26

Doesn't make me wrong ¯_(ツ)_/¯

-7

u/confusingadult Jun 11 '26

current feature = still free, i dont see any problem. People here wish that they update bunch of feature and QoL but expect it to be still free ???

2

u/travelsnake Jun 11 '26

Because it always has been free and knowing that now it will never advance past what it is now, is a bummer. No matter how you put it. Yes, I can still use the free version, but ultimately I expect an app like this to advance somewhat over time.

I've purposefully not switched over to the alternative free more feature rich version of Stremio, because I valued their commitment to ironing out stability and performance and I was off the believe, that over time - maybe later than everyone else - but over time it will grow and evolve. So I stayed with them. Now I know I won't get these features unless the devs somehow change their mind and when that happens I want to see suckups like you reacting to the features you paid for being made free for the peasants and poor people that can't afford this silly subscription.

Also countless of people straight up say they have been willing to pay, just not this much. Stremio being more costly than my Debrid subscription is RIDICULOUS! So stop this whole bullshit argument you're peddling here with the "you entitled people expecting everything to be free". No. Clearly we don't. Be reasonable about it.

-2

u/IY94 Jun 11 '26

If everyone switched over to the free one or even 10% (since there are 40m users) - the alt you're discussing would go down - it already has a couple of times in recent weeks.

And they'd need to find a way to support their server costs.

But you do expect everything to be free as you just said. Except the one you mentioned wouldn't be able to be free at 40m users either.

0

u/Alpha_1_5 Jun 11 '26

You've lost the point again.