thanks.dev sounds pretty shady. They seem to collect donations for projects on their behalf without telling them. So while you think you are donating to some dependency you really are giving the money to thanks.dev where they can hold onto the money until someone realizes their project has more than the minimum amount. The FAQ says that if people don't withdraw the money within 3 months it just gets sent to other people. This means that someone could donate $100 to a project and then that money ends up never making it to the author of the project. Or if you have a small project your donations never reach enough for you to withdraw them.
The article mentions that thanks.dev has a global blacklist of people who you can't donate to. This means they have the power to make certain dependencies get a bigger share of the money that is being donated.
The article mentions that thanks.dev has a global blacklist of people who you can't donate to. This means they have the power to make certain dependencies get a bigger share of the money that is being donated.