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I lose faith in representative democracy by the day. I certainly don't feel like my opinions are being represented 99% of the time. But the vast majority of Ame

I lose faith in representative democracy by the day. I certainly don't feel like my opinions are being represented 99% of the time. But the vast majority of Americans are completely unaware of what's happening in Congress at any given time. I've thought of building an app where voters could enter their opinions and be notified whenever their representatives vote for or against their views, but I can't figure out monetization.

jedimastert 7y ago
Ads? I'd assume you'd be completely against this, but collecting a whole bunch of voting preferences would probably be incredibly valuable to someone. Just give proper notice.
- godelski 7y ago
  Doesn't that also potentially undermine democracy? Ads are specifically intended to sway peoples thinking. I know this already happens with politics but do we really need more tools to influence people? (Yes we can do it for good, but there's equal potential for bad) I'm not saying we should, but I'm saying we should think about this before that kind of data is mass gathered and sold.
  - jedimastert 7y ago
    > Doesn't that also potentially undermine democracy? I don't know about that. It's true that ads are meant to sway thoughts, but aren't debates basically supposed to do the same thing? The problem would be misinformation. The information shod definitely be use carefully and thoughtfully, I agree. Or possibly even not collected at all, if at all possible. I was just pointing out one avenue of monetization.
    - godelski 7y ago
      I think the difference with debates is that they are moderated and usually fact checked. Ads on the other hand are much more prolific and it would be substantially harder to fact check everything. But the ads isn't my concern, my concern is the data. You could use the data for good. It could help politicians and candidates find out what constituents want to a high accuracy. This would clearly be a good thing. The issue is how that data is handled. If that data becomes public (you always have to assume there's this chance even if it is controlled) then it could easily be used for nefarious purposes. We've seen that it doesn't take much money to spread a lot of misinformation. Because of this I don't think it would be a good idea to just sell that data to whoever wants it. There could also be problems of resale.
bassman9000 7y ago
I lose faith in representative democracy by the day but I can't figure out monetization. Oh boy.
- ardit33 7y ago
  Haha, I know.... that is the most HN comment ever... Not happy about the world, wanting to change in some idealistic way, but how to run ads and make money on it?
  - Alex3917 7y ago
    Right but if you can't make money on something then there's a cap on how good it can be. E.g. say what you want about Facebook, but it wouldn't be nearly as polished if it were made by only Zuckerberg working 5 or 10 hours a week in his spare time.
    - erik_seaberg 7y ago
      This. It's weird that people have such different reactions to "monetized" and "sustainable" when they're so closely connected.
      - meheleventyone 7y ago
        They can but don't have to be connected and when you put it in context of "saving democracy" particularly as the OP was complaining about something they think they know how to fix but won't because they can't make money from it then it fits a hilarious stereotype of precisely what is hurting democracy (profit over democracy).
        ngngngng 7y ago
        More like I don't know how I could afford the time and money to build and run the service.
        7y ago
axaxs 7y ago
I'd certainly appreciate such an app. I won't guilt you by saying 'what about civic duty' but do consider that it sounds like you want people to be informed such that they know the bad things politicians do, and creating such an app may help achieve that. Meaning of course, benefit to you though not monetarily. Alternatively, you could always go ads, or maybe preferably, add a paid feature for certain niceties(one touch calling, assistance in writing, etc).
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Vervious 7y ago
What does this have to do with Libra? I bet most Americans are in favor of stopping Libra; aka Facebook's private currency. Central banking is a huge part of international economic policy and stability. There's a reason private money was outlawed in the 1900s.
- caruana 7y ago
  > There's a reason private money was outlawed in the 1900s. And the reason is probably a bit more nuanced than this sentence projects. Furthermore, reasoning in the 1900s should not be used to justify government monopoly on money in 2019.
  - Vervious 7y ago
    Fair. I guess the 2008 financial crisis is an elephant in the room, for instance, revealing flaws in our current economic approach. But that is a very different conversation, I think, for a very different audience. Sometimes, being in the cryptocurrency industry, it feels like a shouting match between people who have never studied economics or distributed systems or cryptography.
- vageli 7y ago
  > What does this have to do with Libra? I bet most Americans are in favor of stopping Libra; aka Facebook's private currency. > Central banking is a huge part of international economic policy and stability. There's a reason private money was outlawed in the 1900s. Private currencies seem to be legal so long as they aren't viewed by the government to be a method of avoiding taxes. Can you point me to some more information about this? Everything I've read seems to point to private currencies being legal in the United States at least (aside, I am aware of the liberty dollar case in the US. The government's angle was that it too closely resembled US currency iirc).
  - Vervious 7y ago
    Yes, you are right that they are legal, I misremembered. Good catch. The spirit of my comment shouldn't change though, if I instead refer to the establishment of a U.S. dollar. That being said, the fact that you have to pay rent with legal tender in states like CA goes a long way in regulating private currencies.
pfraze 7y ago
I assume you're saying you disagree with this action by congress, but you're jumping past the issue and into something fairly different. For what it's worth, the two primary issues I've seen raised with Libre is monopoly and finance regulation. I wouldn't be very excited to hear Bank of America is getting into social networking; I'm not sure why I should be excited that Facebook is getting into banking. As for regulation, my (limited) understanding is that if Facebook wants to act like a bank, it needs to be regulated like one.
- buboard 7y ago
  Libra is backed by 100% reserve assets. Banks have like 1% requirement. Libra is already better positioned in that respect.
throwaway743 7y ago
Do it dude! Ads are one way, but also look at Patreon for subscribers. If it's related to people's individual political preferences, and delivers easy to consume information to those who want to learn about their political environment yet feel lost in the process of figuring it out, then it's likely that people wouldn't mind donating a dollar or so a month to get that information. Also, people would really value the fact that it wouldn't be a matter of taking a politician by their words but by there actions. It'll cut through the bullshit for a lot of voters/users. The potential positive consequences of building such an app are significant
godelski 7y ago
> but I can't figure out monetization. Seriously? This is the thing stopping you? It doesn't sound so much like you care about democracy so much as making money. Clearly you can use ads but that isn't very profitable. You have to ask yourself, which is more important: democracy or the time you put in to make the app. You can even make that decision AFTER you have made the app (you don't have to figure out monetization first)
- irq 7y ago
  Please consider the possibility that OP has this great idea but can’t afford to launch it out of their own pocket. Also consider the fact that this tool would likely see a lot of traffic, and some legal challenges as well (launched by the politicians this will be exposing). All of that costs $$$$.
- noonespecial 7y ago
  Sometimes "I can't figure out monetization" doesn't mean "I don't see how this will throw off FU money", but instead means "I have no idea how I'd pay for this".
MiscIdeaMaker99 7y ago
In the USA, one simply has to contact their representatives to let them know about their opinions. They track it, whether you want to believe that or not. Whether they use it or not is another story, but we're not a direct democracy here, so we elect representatives to make decisions for us.
bigfinersfg 7y ago
> I've thought of building an app where voters could enter their opinions and be notified whenever their representatives vote for or against their views, but I can't figure out monetization. Have you read a bill? It’s filled with “replace subsection (a) with subsection (b)” and other legalese because they’re literally making law. You either have to be knowledgeable enough to understand the bill, or take the politician’s word on what the bill says, or rely on a news article summarizing what the bill says, or rely on the activist group who projects the unintended and intended effects of the bill. Sounds like you want to create a news organization that has your editorial judgment, accessible with a fancy custom app that uses “machine learning” or whatever buzzword’s being used.
tomohawk 7y ago
Try living under nonrepresentative dictatorship sometime. Not only does your vote not matter, but neither does your life or basic human rights.
nahtan 7y ago
This app exists, and it looks like they accept donations. I've signed up and it's pretty useful: https://issuevoter.org https://issuevoter.org

jedimastert 7y ago

Ads? I'd assume you'd be completely against this, but collecting a whole bunch of voting preferences would probably be incredibly valuable to someone. Just give proper notice.

godelski 7y ago
Doesn't that also potentially undermine democracy? Ads are specifically intended to sway peoples thinking. I know this already happens with politics but do we really need more tools to influence people? (Yes we can do it for good, but there's equal potential for bad) I'm not saying we should, but I'm saying we should think about this before that kind of data is mass gathered and sold.
- jedimastert 7y ago
  > Doesn't that also potentially undermine democracy? I don't know about that. It's true that ads are meant to sway thoughts, but aren't debates basically supposed to do the same thing? The problem would be misinformation. The information shod definitely be use carefully and thoughtfully, I agree. Or possibly even not collected at all, if at all possible. I was just pointing out one avenue of monetization.
  - godelski 7y ago
    I think the difference with debates is that they are moderated and usually fact checked. Ads on the other hand are much more prolific and it would be substantially harder to fact check everything. But the ads isn't my concern, my concern is the data. You could use the data for good. It could help politicians and candidates find out what constituents want to a high accuracy. This would clearly be a good thing. The issue is how that data is handled. If that data becomes public (you always have to assume there's this chance even if it is controlled) then it could easily be used for nefarious purposes. We've seen that it doesn't take much money to spread a lot of misinformation. Because of this I don't think it would be a good idea to just sell that data to whoever wants it. There could also be problems of resale.

bassman9000 7y ago

I lose faith in representative democracy by the day but I can't figure out monetization. Oh boy.

ardit33 7y ago
Haha, I know.... that is the most HN comment ever... Not happy about the world, wanting to change in some idealistic way, but how to run ads and make money on it?
- Alex3917 7y ago
  Right but if you can't make money on something then there's a cap on how good it can be. E.g. say what you want about Facebook, but it wouldn't be nearly as polished if it were made by only Zuckerberg working 5 or 10 hours a week in his spare time.
  - erik_seaberg 7y ago
    This. It's weird that people have such different reactions to "monetized" and "sustainable" when they're so closely connected.
    - meheleventyone 7y ago
      They can but don't have to be connected and when you put it in context of "saving democracy" particularly as the OP was complaining about something they think they know how to fix but won't because they can't make money from it then it fits a hilarious stereotype of precisely what is hurting democracy (profit over democracy).
      - ngngngng 7y ago
        More like I don't know how I could afford the time and money to build and run the service.
        7y ago

axaxs 7y ago

I'd certainly appreciate such an app. I won't guilt you by saying 'what about civic duty' but do consider that it sounds like you want people to be informed such that they know the bad things politicians do, and creating such an app may help achieve that. Meaning of course, benefit to you though not monetarily. Alternatively, you could always go ads, or maybe preferably, add a paid feature for certain niceties(one touch calling, assistance in writing, etc).

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

Vervious 7y ago

What does this have to do with Libra? I bet most Americans are in favor of stopping Libra; aka Facebook's private currency. Central banking is a huge part of international economic policy and stability. There's a reason private money was outlawed in the 1900s.

caruana 7y ago
> There's a reason private money was outlawed in the 1900s. And the reason is probably a bit more nuanced than this sentence projects. Furthermore, reasoning in the 1900s should not be used to justify government monopoly on money in 2019.
- Vervious 7y ago
  Fair. I guess the 2008 financial crisis is an elephant in the room, for instance, revealing flaws in our current economic approach. But that is a very different conversation, I think, for a very different audience. Sometimes, being in the cryptocurrency industry, it feels like a shouting match between people who have never studied economics or distributed systems or cryptography.
vageli 7y ago
> What does this have to do with Libra? I bet most Americans are in favor of stopping Libra; aka Facebook's private currency. > Central banking is a huge part of international economic policy and stability. There's a reason private money was outlawed in the 1900s. Private currencies seem to be legal so long as they aren't viewed by the government to be a method of avoiding taxes. Can you point me to some more information about this? Everything I've read seems to point to private currencies being legal in the United States at least (aside, I am aware of the liberty dollar case in the US. The government's angle was that it too closely resembled US currency iirc).
- Vervious 7y ago
  Yes, you are right that they are legal, I misremembered. Good catch. The spirit of my comment shouldn't change though, if I instead refer to the establishment of a U.S. dollar. That being said, the fact that you have to pay rent with legal tender in states like CA goes a long way in regulating private currencies.

pfraze 7y ago

I assume you're saying you disagree with this action by congress, but you're jumping past the issue and into something fairly different. For what it's worth, the two primary issues I've seen raised with Libre is monopoly and finance regulation. I wouldn't be very excited to hear Bank of America is getting into social networking; I'm not sure why I should be excited that Facebook is getting into banking. As for regulation, my (limited) understanding is that if Facebook wants to act like a bank, it needs to be regulated like one.

buboard 7y ago
Libra is backed by 100% reserve assets. Banks have like 1% requirement. Libra is already better positioned in that respect.

throwaway743 7y ago

Do it dude! Ads are one way, but also look at Patreon for subscribers. If it's related to people's individual political preferences, and delivers easy to consume information to those who want to learn about their political environment yet feel lost in the process of figuring it out, then it's likely that people wouldn't mind donating a dollar or so a month to get that information. Also, people would really value the fact that it wouldn't be a matter of taking a politician by their words but by there actions. It'll cut through the bullshit for a lot of voters/users. The potential positive consequences of building such an app are significant

godelski 7y ago

> but I can't figure out monetization. Seriously? This is the thing stopping you? It doesn't sound so much like you care about democracy so much as making money. Clearly you can use ads but that isn't very profitable. You have to ask yourself, which is more important: democracy or the time you put in to make the app. You can even make that decision AFTER you have made the app (you don't have to figure out monetization first)

irq 7y ago
Please consider the possibility that OP has this great idea but can’t afford to launch it out of their own pocket. Also consider the fact that this tool would likely see a lot of traffic, and some legal challenges as well (launched by the politicians this will be exposing). All of that costs $$$$.
noonespecial 7y ago
Sometimes "I can't figure out monetization" doesn't mean "I don't see how this will throw off FU money", but instead means "I have no idea how I'd pay for this".

MiscIdeaMaker99 7y ago

In the USA, one simply has to contact their representatives to let them know about their opinions. They track it, whether you want to believe that or not. Whether they use it or not is another story, but we're not a direct democracy here, so we elect representatives to make decisions for us.

bigfinersfg 7y ago

> I've thought of building an app where voters could enter their opinions and be notified whenever their representatives vote for or against their views, but I can't figure out monetization. Have you read a bill? It’s filled with “replace subsection (a) with subsection (b)” and other legalese because they’re literally making law. You either have to be knowledgeable enough to understand the bill, or take the politician’s word on what the bill says, or rely on a news article summarizing what the bill says, or rely on the activist group who projects the unintended and intended effects of the bill. Sounds like you want to create a news organization that has your editorial judgment, accessible with a fancy custom app that uses “machine learning” or whatever buzzword’s being used.

tomohawk 7y ago

Try living under nonrepresentative dictatorship sometime. Not only does your vote not matter, but neither does your life or basic human rights.

nahtan 7y ago

This app exists, and it looks like they accept donations. I've signed up and it's pretty useful: https://issuevoter.org https://issuevoter.org