...'k... what's my incentive for buying "hubs?"
You donated to the site, and that supports us. Don't mistake me, these are just my thoughts as of this morning. This needs to bounce around. I simply see it as taking the two positives from the experiment that I see: 1) people feel more selective about their sharing, and 2) good content creators without cash can be a part of the donation reward mechanism; and it removes the bad that comes along with spreading bits of cash about.
That's just it, though - Money elicits powerful emotions as a motivator. As a point of commerce people recognize that some things aren't free. This is why people generally gripe about but put up with ads - they recognize that websites have to make money somehow but that's just the cost of doing business. When you tie the money to their behavior on the site, their behavior becomes transactional in nature, not conversational. You can't afford me on a transactional basis. You can't afford anyone. You recognize this by allowing me to buy "boops" or whatever heinous word we're using but not requiring them, which just shows your passive-aggressive desire to make them matter but recognizes your fear in forcing them to matter.