Yeah, I bought gold a few times. I had no problem with "this content was so good it inspired me to give back a little to the free service we're all using."
I wouldn't mind some equivalent for the fediverse honestly. Let me donate to the home server of a user who's comment I thought was especially good.
I know you can donate directly, but I do think there was something about also making another user's day that felt good about the Gold system. The service gets some fuel in the tank and the comment author gets a little boost to their mood. It was nice.
I agree it got way too out of hand when they moved beyond Gold though.
quortez