The cycle will continue. In its place there will be a new Unsplash which will offer the same + a bit more until it gets bought out too.
What bothers me about this sale is exactly this: Unsplash cashed in on their user submissions without guaranteeing their users (and use!) would be protected and perpetuated.
This is equivalent of me building a little lemonade stand, inviting a neighbor that makes a good lemonade but doesn't have a very visible stand to come give away their lemonade on my stand, and then selling the entire stand (with lemonade) to Lemonade Store down the street.
She patted herself on the back and moved onto building another community thing. I removed my articles and moved on.
It's a real shame, she's very talented, but I struggle to engage with any of her work now because I keep looking for where she's going to try and profit from community participation.
I wish her no ill, but it was a reminder to not treat things as a not-for-profit if they don't have clear governance to back that up.