Yea so after the server is X old you just going to have allot of empty buildings that takes up server power and makes new players on the server less interested to start there.
The idea behind decay structures is really good. People just have to stop being so *peep* lazy. As there is no one that can claim that he don't have time to spend 30 sec a day to prevent a his house to decay. And if some one have to go away for a few days (IRL) he can just set a code on the door and ask some one to come and open/close the door for him/her to stop the decay.
Talking about lazyness, at least read the two messages before the one you're quoting. You'd know what I think about decay and you'd understand that I was talking exactly about this case: what purpose is doing decay if every player is avoiding it by automatically login for 1 sec every N time before the counter restart, like bots. In this case, there is no real decay, just a daily nuisance to deal with in something supposedly a game.
Edited:
No some people have jobs and kids, if you are not a parent you have not a clue, and for the server owners
to be able to change these settings would be the best for everyone, that way everyone can get what they desire, and there is no reason why it would be the same for every house and or area
this would be the only acceptable micro-transaction btw, now the game is not worth it but lets say we got alot of new content
think minecraft with mods, people could rent an area on the map with no decay along as there is free space
there, lets say 1$ a month per 50x50 meters, an extension of this would be cities where you could build a house in with npc protection, this would maybe cost 3$ a month, all money would of course go to the server owner.
So we learn facepunch made millions. But still we are considering new way to spend money. This is a wonderful business model. Or very broken, depending how you look at it.