Unfortunately, this is a problem that can't really be resolved. As long as there is a downvote button, it will always be viewed as a dislike button by some people (and I don't know if removing it is a good alternative for such a large social network). It's a problem that would eventually arrive here from Reddit as the community on the Fediverse grew.
Usually I bought it when it was buy one get one free ever since they cancelled the $5/month Nitro Classic most people had (and replaced it with that pointless "oh please buy the more expensive nitro!" $3/month Nitro Basic).
This month, I accidentally forgot to cancel my Nitro and canceled it the day I was charged but didn't get my money back and had to keep Nitro for the month. Lesson learned, I likely won't be paying again. Maybe my memory is hazy, but I swore it was supposed to give your money back if you cancel quickly after being charged again.
I use Discord heavily, so I didn't mind paying the $5/month for Nitro Classic back when it was a thing. Discord was quite good at the time and wasn't in the process of enshittification like it is now. I can't wrap my head around paying $10/month for Nitro though.
Matrix sounds great and all and I'd love if the communities and people I know were on it but that just isn't the case, and this isn't a part of my internet usage where I can use FOSS unfortunately.