6 ms·

It's a browser with built-in cryptocurrency nonsense. That should tell you everything you need to know.

smoldesu 5y ago
Yep. The fact that it even existed in the Brave browser at any point in time is enough to eternally dissuade me from using it.
- jonathansampson 5y ago
  The BAT (and before it, Bitcoin) is there as an optional feature. It's not on or enabled by default. It's there for users who wish to anonymously earn rewards for their attention, and use those rewards to support content creators on the Web.
  - smoldesu 5y ago
    ...except those "rewards" don't ever reach the creators pockets, unless they're savvy enough to make their own ERC wallet and go through the collection process.
    - celsoazevedo 5y ago
      "If a publisher has not verified ownership, then a user’s contributions will be held in reserve inside the browser for 90 days. [...] At the end of the 90 day period, any contributions marked for unverified publishers will be released back to the wallet. No funds leave the browser except to go to verified creators." https://brave.com/faq-rewards/#unclaimed-funds https://brave.com/faq-rewards/#unclaimed-funds
      - smoldesu 5y ago
        Case in point.
        throwaway292893 5y ago
        The only issue you have left with BAT is user education, got it. So thankfully the tech is solid. Now just UX polishing and onboarding. Personally, I think you're just being obtuse and looking for a problem. -- edit -- @dang, go fuck yourself, seriously. Until this edit I haven't said anything offensive. I've simply been a contrarian for many topics: technical, social, political, agricultural, philosophical. It seems you don't want a Socrates? Too bad. I can't help you allow these topics and other commenters post their opinions and I have opposing opinions. I'm always as respectful as the person I'm responding to is. I also don't bring the topics up in the first place, yet you target my response for bring a flamewar? Why not the post I was responding to with the opposing opinion? How is "got it" more offensive than "Case in point." How is pointing out GP's actions offensive? Care to point out exactly what you found so offensive? Again, go fuck yourself. You know what you're doing. Censorship isn't cool. Your Marxist, CCP dick-sucking side won't win. Go let China bend you and YCombinator over some more. That's offensive, true but offensive, until now I haven't posted anything offensive. Great moderating job dumbfuck.
        dang 5y ago
        We've banned this account for repeatedly breaking the site guidelines and attacking other users. Seriously not cool. Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27598433 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27598433.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
        Draken93 5y ago
        Brave displays if a website is registered for the reward programm...
    - jonathansampson 5y ago
      [This post describes the behavior of Brave Payments in last 2018. It is not an accurate description for how the system works today, in 2021]. No, creators did not have to be savvy enough to make their own ERC-20 wallet. We worked with Uphold at the time. Creators could verify with Uphold (a wallet would be created for them), and we would then send Brave's BAT (earmarked for the creator by Brave users) from our own settlement wallet over to the creator.
celsoazevedo 5y ago
I have a few websites and receive payments from Brave Rewards almost every month. They pay me in BAT, but since I don't care about BAT or can use it directly, it gets converted to my local currency, which I then can use to pay for stuff. It's a mistake to assume something is nonsense or bad just because crypto is involved. Provided that you can convert it to something usable, it doesn't really matter if you're paid in dollars, BAT or something else.
- simonw 5y ago
  How much are you earning? A few dollars a month or something more substantial?
  - celsoazevedo 5y ago
    A little over 800 BAT this year: https://i.imgur.com/p7o6QKT.png https://i.imgur.com/p7o6QKT.png That's ~400 dollars at current BAT prices ($0.49) or ~1200 dollars at the price BAT was ~1 month ago ($1.50). It's not a lot, BAT value isn't very stable and I'd make more money with Google Adsense, but this comes from users that block ads anyway. 400 is better than 0.
tomstockmail 5y ago
That, and anytime there's a critical comment on hackernews their employee's come flying in to do damage control.
- Dah00n 5y ago
  Yes, it happens in every thread about Brave. Full-on damage control at the smallest mention, which says a lot.
  - iJohnDoe 5y ago
    Depends are which side of the table you’re sitting at. I like Brave and many other people do. Just look at any of the other HN posts about Brave. Since I like Brave, from this side of the table it looks like the anti-Brave people come out in full force to try to spew the same old crap and badmouth Brave. At the point it is the tired old crap, which most has been debunked already.
    - tomstockmail 5y ago
      With the referral program and integration with a cryptocurrency, anyone can shill for it. It's hard if not impossible to know if someone promoting Brave has a stake in BAT or not. Those that are showing Braves many problems ("badmouth") don't have a stake one way or the other except to warn people.
      - cheschire 5y ago
        That’s a romantic view. There’s folks on HN working for direct competitors of brave. I doubt that everyone defending brave is a shill, or that everyone criticizing it does so with the purest intent as you’re suggesting.
        tomstockmail 5y ago
        The only real competitors for Brave are other cryptocurrencies, which yes there are many. I feel there's plenty of reasons to not like Brave and few if any are about suggesting a superior cryptocurrency. The only non-compromised Brave users I've come across are mobile, and they are the ones that find using the Firefox add-ons menu to install uBlock origin too complicated. They are unlikely to learn the BAT system.

Yep. The fact that it even existed in the Brave browser at any point in time is enough to eternally dissuade me from using it.

jonathansampson 5y ago
The BAT (and before it, Bitcoin) is there as an optional feature. It's not on or enabled by default. It's there for users who wish to anonymously earn rewards for their attention, and use those rewards to support content creators on the Web.
- smoldesu 5y ago
  ...except those "rewards" don't ever reach the creators pockets, unless they're savvy enough to make their own ERC wallet and go through the collection process.
  - celsoazevedo 5y ago
    "If a publisher has not verified ownership, then a user’s contributions will be held in reserve inside the browser for 90 days. [...] At the end of the 90 day period, any contributions marked for unverified publishers will be released back to the wallet. No funds leave the browser except to go to verified creators." https://brave.com/faq-rewards/#unclaimed-funds https://brave.com/faq-rewards/#unclaimed-funds
    - smoldesu 5y ago
      Case in point.
      - throwaway292893 5y ago
        The only issue you have left with BAT is user education, got it. So thankfully the tech is solid. Now just UX polishing and onboarding. Personally, I think you're just being obtuse and looking for a problem. -- edit -- @dang, go fuck yourself, seriously. Until this edit I haven't said anything offensive. I've simply been a contrarian for many topics: technical, social, political, agricultural, philosophical. It seems you don't want a Socrates? Too bad. I can't help you allow these topics and other commenters post their opinions and I have opposing opinions. I'm always as respectful as the person I'm responding to is. I also don't bring the topics up in the first place, yet you target my response for bring a flamewar? Why not the post I was responding to with the opposing opinion? How is "got it" more offensive than "Case in point." How is pointing out GP's actions offensive? Care to point out exactly what you found so offensive? Again, go fuck yourself. You know what you're doing. Censorship isn't cool. Your Marxist, CCP dick-sucking side won't win. Go let China bend you and YCombinator over some more. That's offensive, true but offensive, until now I haven't posted anything offensive. Great moderating job dumbfuck.
        dang 5y ago
        We've banned this account for repeatedly breaking the site guidelines and attacking other users. Seriously not cool. Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27598433 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27598433.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - Draken93 5y ago
        Brave displays if a website is registered for the reward programm...
  - jonathansampson 5y ago
    [This post describes the behavior of Brave Payments in last 2018. It is not an accurate description for how the system works today, in 2021]. No, creators did not have to be savvy enough to make their own ERC-20 wallet. We worked with Uphold at the time. Creators could verify with Uphold (a wallet would be created for them), and we would then send Brave's BAT (earmarked for the creator by Brave users) from our own settlement wallet over to the creator.

celsoazevedo 5y ago

I have a few websites and receive payments from Brave Rewards almost every month. They pay me in BAT, but since I don't care about BAT or can use it directly, it gets converted to my local currency, which I then can use to pay for stuff. It's a mistake to assume something is nonsense or bad just because crypto is involved. Provided that you can convert it to something usable, it doesn't really matter if you're paid in dollars, BAT or something else.

simonw 5y ago
How much are you earning? A few dollars a month or something more substantial?
- celsoazevedo 5y ago
  A little over 800 BAT this year: https://i.imgur.com/p7o6QKT.png https://i.imgur.com/p7o6QKT.png That's ~400 dollars at current BAT prices ($0.49) or ~1200 dollars at the price BAT was ~1 month ago ($1.50). It's not a lot, BAT value isn't very stable and I'd make more money with Google Adsense, but this comes from users that block ads anyway. 400 is better than 0.

tomstockmail 5y ago

That, and anytime there's a critical comment on hackernews their employee's come flying in to do damage control.

Dah00n 5y ago
Yes, it happens in every thread about Brave. Full-on damage control at the smallest mention, which says a lot.
- iJohnDoe 5y ago
  Depends are which side of the table you’re sitting at. I like Brave and many other people do. Just look at any of the other HN posts about Brave. Since I like Brave, from this side of the table it looks like the anti-Brave people come out in full force to try to spew the same old crap and badmouth Brave. At the point it is the tired old crap, which most has been debunked already.
  - tomstockmail 5y ago
    With the referral program and integration with a cryptocurrency, anyone can shill for it. It's hard if not impossible to know if someone promoting Brave has a stake in BAT or not. Those that are showing Braves many problems ("badmouth") don't have a stake one way or the other except to warn people.
    - cheschire 5y ago
      That’s a romantic view. There’s folks on HN working for direct competitors of brave. I doubt that everyone defending brave is a shill, or that everyone criticizing it does so with the purest intent as you’re suggesting.
      - tomstockmail 5y ago
        The only real competitors for Brave are other cryptocurrencies, which yes there are many. I feel there's plenty of reasons to not like Brave and few if any are about suggesting a superior cryptocurrency. The only non-compromised Brave users I've come across are mobile, and they are the ones that find using the Firefox add-ons menu to install uBlock origin too complicated. They are unlikely to learn the BAT system.