Hi S0rda,
you have total right be ok to give $20 to google but not $15 once to a developer doing dev and packaging work, helping test a free software. To me it is very different : on one side you give money to a data exploitation megacorp aiming profits and/or monopoly, on the other you encourage an independent dev investing time in a free ecosystem.
I understand the GPL like B.Y.O.B. : the E-cycles dev has the right to sell his work / binaries if he provides his derivative source code with it. And his users, having the GPL source code, could merge it into upstream blender if wanted (you can do it).
FLOSS is an amazing human achievement, IMO possible because it depends on less physical constraints, but it still depends on the time of a lot of volunteer people who need to live, find sense spending time on it, eat everyday... to be able to contribute to the ecosystem (code, document, patch, test, education material, manage forums or communities, etc..). It must be acknowledged. FLOSS dying or major contributors burning-out can't be our answer as a community.
Like you, I would ideally prefer if all free software was also free as in free beer, to be accessible to all without restriction. But seeing Heartbleed/OpenSSL maintenance difficulties for example, or major FLOSS projects experimenting with various strategies to fund sustained development and support through foundations, crowdfunding, paid services.. Their is an evident question to which we do not have a perfect answer yet.
Regarding Blender, based on readings (from Ton or Pablo Vazquez I think)*, Blender Foundation seems open to people trying to sustain their life and business models around blender. Anyway it is always possible to boycott paying for free software/plugins/tutorials, and let others to contribute financially if the want/can.
On the form, I feel your expression sometime quite direct and judgemental ("stop it", "what's wrong with you", "brainwashed"...), so I can understand why some moderators could not want it on their forum - again, it's their right. Also, if the purpose of your post is to understand and ask for other's point of view, it might not be constructive.
Have a nice day, and big up to all LuxCore contributors
[Edit] *just came across
this tweet by Pablo, retweeted by Ton, which clarifies the subject and blender position + interesting discussion.