And yet somehow Android, Windows, Linux and even MacOS itself all manage to be just fine while still allowing sideloading. Of course MacOS is going down the same dark path by hiding the install option in an obscure menu and lying to the user about potential security issues, but still.
iOS is the only platform that supposedly NEEDS to extract this fee. Stop believing Apple's lies, they've been grifting everyone for years.
But they won't. Nobody wants to work on something that they know they have no chance of sharing with their friends without paying a (for them, in that point of their life) significant sum of money for that privilege.
They think they get to control who visits their website without putting up authentication controls, and choose to fight this battle by breaking Google's rules for deceptive websites (white text on white background).
I started programming when I was 13. I did not have anywhere close near $99 to spend, so Apple was completely inaccessible to me. Eventually I did make a few thousand from an Android app at 16, which was huge. But at that point I had moved on to other things and never wound up giving Apple their $99. And I also didn't generate several thousand dollars in revenue which they could've taxed 30% of.
For example the /r/Netherlands subreddit is ran by trolls who are not from the Netherlands, and does not allow the usage of the Dutch language in the subreddit at all. Instead /r/theNetherlands is the proper subreddit.
The fact that reddit allows moderators to hide the modlist nowadays only makes things worse. You have absolutely no idea who is running things anymore.
If they want people to care about mac dev they should get rid of the fee entirely and supply build tools for Linux/Windows. At the very least CLI tools that can perform the actual compilation. Cross platform compilation should be possible, especially for CI but also to reduce friction of onboarding new devs.
It's absolutely ridiculous that you have to pay to add value to a platform.
Please don't and just keep the noreferrer, but if you do insist on banning the domain then you could perhaps add an explanation that it was at the request of the site author. Preferably with a link to this post or something else showcasing the insanity.