The MIT license is basically the license of choice for growth hacking these days. Many VC backed companies follow this strategy - it serves to grow your userbase, a free-tier for developers using your ecosystem and last but not least, a chance for volunteers to do free work for you.

This is perhaps too cynical for this specific instance, but it's not overly cynical more broadly. Considering users of the site have to evaluate many of these offerings frequently, I don't blame them for having a negative gut reaction.