There’s still a one-time remove ads/tracking price which is €23 for me, varies by region. The lifetime Sync Ultra is for cloud back-up features, can be ignored.
old.lemmy.world should fix those woes.
I’d believe it’s organic tbh, I was waiting for Sync or Boost to drop before I fully took the plunge. There are probably many others like me for whom those apps and others defined the Reddit mobile experience and the other apps for Lemmy (or the ones I used at least) weren’t as feature rich so it’s an easy choice to make.
I know in your example you’re trying to give the right answer or explanation as you see it, but this is also very closely related to Cunningham’s Law:
So you’re still providing a service even if it feels bad to have an expert steamroll whatever perception you had. Chances are tons of people had the same vague notion as you and your misguided logic eventually led to the correct path.