How much money have you paid the author of SQLiteStudio?
I don't see how publicly shaming someone (and yes, this is how I interpret the intend of your question) for the act of thanking the author of a project is going to help anyone.
It is offered free of charge, so why should it be despicable to use it free of charge? Maybe they do actually donate to the project, contribute code, or support in other means.
For example this very post where they thank the author is probably a source of motivation and acknowledgement that might have a positive impact on the project. They could have refrained from doing this but instead they took the time to write a very enthusiastic comment.
Sure it's offered free of charge -- and immediately next to the big "Download" button is a big "Donate" button.
> Maybe they do actually donate to the project, contribute code, or support in other means.
Maybe instead of shaming, the question is a cue for them to mention one of those things.
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In the US it's Thanskgiving week. It's nice to give thanks. It can also be nice to give other things -- like support to a project that has saved/made your company non-trivial money. Not required, but nice.
To be clear, I think it would be fair if they answer something like: "I am trying to get my company to contribute... but as my original story showed, my company is pretty shitty at making simple decisions." :)
I say this all as someone who has paid for SQLiteStudio: if you don't see the connection between paying for open-source software, and open-source software sustainability (aka "having nice things"), then your brain is totally cooked. Money is energy, and without it, there will continue to be yet another "why open-source desperately needs funding" front page post every week.
Not one other person in these comments mentions paying for this work. That is worth embarrassing those who are all talk, no action. They are doing worse than ordinary virtue signalling--they're phony virtue signaling.
Giving compliments are fine, but put them in the donation message box.
If every positive comment on this thread doesn’t start by mentioning the exact percentage of their salary donated I think I might explode.