I agree, but Thana seems to think that will lead to no donations.
My thoughts are - the current system leads to the most, the free download leads to next to none, and the pay-what-you-want would lead to a bit more since it's a bit "in your face" but not (as) required.
The problem is still (and will be, unless we find a very good solution) the funding.
Sure, patreon right now has $44/mo, but that probably covers just the server costs.
Me and triantares have been saying for a while, Thana needs to delegate more tasks.
(He already has, but not very many.)
That way, he can work on other things or even get a part time job (even if it's a few hours per week), so that no matter the amount of donations he can still feed himself.
ANYWAY - BACK ON TOPIC:
Retro Elive will definitely get at least some press.
If you want to help, pester @Thanatermesis, he keeps procrastinating 
and send some feedback to triantares about his current setup: Tutorial on handling E16 by customizing the desktop
PS: Welcome to the forum! 
sorry for writing a novel 
