What kind of “funding” is referenced in the FAQ? Is there some kind of organization that I am not aware of that pays the author(s) for citations in papers? How is the “long term survival” impacted by whether the author receives citations?

I’m confused as to how “[not including citations] would not have been sustainable in the long term” unless either citations become money at some point or the author is motivated sufficiently by citations to the extent that they would otherwise not work on the project.

If you are an author or are involved in the project, please know that this isn’t intended to be an attack, I’m just interested as to why a project would do something that seems counterintuitive (at least from my point of view).