KarsicKarl

The myth goes deeper.
The story of Lisa Holst originating this myth as a spoof fact is also a myth.

Neither the supposed journalists, Lisa Holst, nor the magazine, PC Professional, exist.

The hunt is on for the earliest reference. Probably on a newsnet group.

https://www.snopes.com/lisa-birgit-holst/

Oliphant maintains a minimum block list that most systems take as a starter list.

Each instance admin decides which servers to block for themselves. If you visit the info pages of some systems they will list blocked systems, and there are a lot of them.

There are some very unsavoury communities out there. Blocking usually revolves around how effective moderation is.

As an example you can see a list of servers blocked by mastodonapp.uk on the About page.

https://mastodonapp.uk/about

I am a donor on various instances.
I’d take a dim view of being eaten.

I’m guessing you haven’t been on the #Fediverse very long so not picked up on the ethos of most of the folk who run the various instances.
Most are very protective of what they have created as a community and are definitely not in it for the money. Some are vehemently anti-capitalist.

There are many ways to get rich. Running an instance is not one of them.