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It's so difficult to make money when everyone wants things to be free. I pay for Medium and that's all right now. I would much like to see the micropayment fut

It's so difficult to make money when everyone wants things to be free. I pay for Medium and that's all right now. I would much like to see the micropayment future - it has to be part of the browser. I would like to pay in lieu of time. If I could see page statistics of how much time it took for a page to be put together and costs of hosting - I could make a contribution based on this information. I've given random £100 to artists I love for the same reason.

dijit 6y ago
I agree about the micropayments future. The thing holding it back is some kind of central authority that can process micropayments with significantly less friction and overheads. Even better if people can accrue credit in some way that isn’t just paying fiat currency in, because we live as a privileged class to have disposable income that is essentially in escrow.
- ketamine__ 6y ago
  Brave browser is doing exactly what you described.
  - dijit 6y ago
    Can I take payments from other browsers? I think what’s missing is a service, not a browser.
  - michaelbrooks 6y ago
    I think Brave and Coil will hopefully lead the way to decentralised micropayments. They just need to become more popular to the every day reader.
- Beldin 6y ago
  We have de facto micro payments: ads. There is very little overhead for users. There are a lot of downsides to ads, but it is the most successful micro payment mechanism we have. It is also the most successful online business model we have. Be careful what you wish for, I guess.
  - kubanczyk 6y ago
    Wow, that's really an inspiring model. Thank you for sharing. Attention as a replacement for hard cash. Hmm... So, how to control its spending as a consumer - that's the question. We're like natives selling land for glass beads. Can we omit ranting and make that a technological problem somehow?
himinlomax 6y ago
> It's so difficult to make money when everyone wants things to be free. From a sysadmin POV, the main benefit of the free-as-in-beer-ness of Free Software is that I don't have to deal with the bullshit of licensing, CALs, talking to sales reps and so on, even when my employer would have the cash to pay for it. Likewise, the main benefit of free content is that I don't have to worry about things like monitoring my bank statements. I can and do pay for some services, and I could afford to pay for more, but each addition increases my financial cognitive load non linearly.

dijit 6y ago

I agree about the micropayments future. The thing holding it back is some kind of central authority that can process micropayments with significantly less friction and overheads. Even better if people can accrue credit in some way that isn’t just paying fiat currency in, because we live as a privileged class to have disposable income that is essentially in escrow.

ketamine__ 6y ago
Brave browser is doing exactly what you described.
- dijit 6y ago
  Can I take payments from other browsers? I think what’s missing is a service, not a browser.
- michaelbrooks 6y ago
  I think Brave and Coil will hopefully lead the way to decentralised micropayments. They just need to become more popular to the every day reader.
Beldin 6y ago
We have de facto micro payments: ads. There is very little overhead for users. There are a lot of downsides to ads, but it is the most successful micro payment mechanism we have. It is also the most successful online business model we have. Be careful what you wish for, I guess.
- kubanczyk 6y ago
  Wow, that's really an inspiring model. Thank you for sharing. Attention as a replacement for hard cash. Hmm... So, how to control its spending as a consumer - that's the question. We're like natives selling land for glass beads. Can we omit ranting and make that a technological problem somehow?

himinlomax 6y ago

> It's so difficult to make money when everyone wants things to be free. From a sysadmin POV, the main benefit of the free-as-in-beer-ness of Free Software is that I don't have to deal with the bullshit of licensing, CALs, talking to sales reps and so on, even when my employer would have the cash to pay for it. Likewise, the main benefit of free content is that I don't have to worry about things like monitoring my bank statements. I can and do pay for some services, and I could afford to pay for more, but each addition increases my financial cognitive load non linearly.