What someone does for you is always going to some degree affect how likely you are to listen to them. Lets say you are 28 years old. You have long since moved out of your parent's house. You are making 100k a year. You own your own home. You have your own bills to pay. They are not paying anything for you. They have ZERO control over you at this point. If dad calls you up and says "Come clean my gutters boy!" YOu don't have to listen to him. What is he gonna do?
Lets say you are 21 years old. Still living with mom and pop. Got no job. They pay for everything for you. One day dad says "Clean the gutters!" You best get your ass to clean those gutters! They still own you. If you deny them then they stop paying for your shit or kick you out.
It was this pirate source that made Icstor move his ass!
Fucked him up so much that he got the abandoned tag clapped in his face that he couldn't leave it like that and had to release a update for it to be removed again.
There is a reason why freedom of expression is banned in many countries and is now restricted even in some western countries beeing branded as hate speech just to take unpleasant opinions out of the discourse.
Icstor is the best example for how corrupt someone becomes when they feel untouchable.
Fortunately, he cannot moderate everything he wants on f95zone as his minions do on his discord & patreon.
Pirates don't necessarily need money to change something, sometimes speech is enough like here it was the case what led one to the other.