> The problem with one-off payments is that payments are just that... one-off. That makes it pretty similar to ad-supported sites now. The difference is, the r

> The problem with one-off payments is that payments are just that... one-off. That makes it pretty similar to ad-supported sites now. The difference is, the revenue comes from the user, who is more likely to incentivize good content. > In fact I'd point out that when it comes down to it, the incentives created by pervasive, automatic micropayments looks almost identical to what we have now. That's a really good point, and as you mention that's pretty much what we have now. I would think that in a micro-payment based world, where you have to pay a bit to read an article, publishers would gain reputation to protect against this. If it cost a teeny bit of my own money to look at a buzzfeed quiz, I'd probably stop doing that pretty quickly. But I do agree that it isn't the best model for all sites, and it would be nice to offer micro-payments along with Patreon-style subscription, for those who know they'll want content from this site a lot. Kind of like how newspapers used to work.