I agree with you totally John, furthermore I'm all but disrespectful to modders...far from it.
I guess the question is where you draw the line though, spending hundreds of hours developing a new ad-on (for free in your case) or charging 80$ for a tweak in the script*example only.
There are some names you can ad to your list...Grimes, Speed and many others. These guys did some great work and as far as I know did not charge a cent although they deserve $.
The question is, did you or any of the others expect financial reward or did you do it to improve your skills at whatever and make the sim more enjoyable for other simmers or because it's your hobby?