I can't disagree with this more. Open-source software has proved this model already. Free things =/= bad things.
This is the internet, notorious for fast & scalable & lowcost solutions. There are legit money-making subreddits out there which, again, are completely free to setup.
Paying for communities isn't helping cover dev expenses as is. Burning STEEM doesn't feed developers, at least not directly enough. We need to think of a new way to go about that, communities should not be in that discussion.