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This is likely true, but it doesn't scale. What if I want to participate say to 100 blogs, do I have to pay $100/month just for subscription? Some central autho

This is likely true, but it doesn't scale. What if I want to participate say to 100 blogs, do I have to pay $100/month just for subscription? Some central authority might be created to make things much easier, but then we would be back to square one with big corporations owning people's data and all related privacy concerns. Not to criticize that possible solution, as I also agree with it in principle, but it is probably much harder to implement well than it looks, and should be created from scratch with scalability in mind: micropayments per post probably are the best option, which if applied to email too would eliminate spam in seconds, although that would also sound like admitting the defeat of the Internet as we knew it.

freddie_mercury 5y ago
On the other hand, your objection is just an objection about standard economic pricing. "What if I want to fly first class every week? That's really expensive. Someone should make it cheaper for me." I mean, I totally understand where you're coming from because it is very different from the current model where almost everything is free. But at the end of the day if you're not willing to pay $100/month (which is less than many people pay for cable TV!) then maybe you don't really want to comment on that 100 blogs all that much
- squarefoot 5y ago
  If I had to pay $100/month for cable TV plus $100/month for various subscriptions, I would have been bankrupt 10 years ago. There are places on Earth where that money makes a difference when one is unemployed or essentially retired. My point wasn't related to the amount of money however but rather just having to pay something since the goal is not to make a business but to discourage trolls and spammers. If email cost everywhere say 2 €cents per email sent, I would gladly pay because I know that the side effect of it would be the immediate elimination of spammers, whose existence rely on how easy is today sending bulks of hundreds of thousands posts for free.

freddie_mercury 5y ago

On the other hand, your objection is just an objection about standard economic pricing. "What if I want to fly first class every week? That's really expensive. Someone should make it cheaper for me." I mean, I totally understand where you're coming from because it is very different from the current model where almost everything is free. But at the end of the day if you're not willing to pay $100/month (which is less than many people pay for cable TV!) then maybe you don't really want to comment on that 100 blogs all that much

squarefoot 5y ago
If I had to pay $100/month for cable TV plus $100/month for various subscriptions, I would have been bankrupt 10 years ago. There are places on Earth where that money makes a difference when one is unemployed or essentially retired. My point wasn't related to the amount of money however but rather just having to pay something since the goal is not to make a business but to discourage trolls and spammers. If email cost everywhere say 2 €cents per email sent, I would gladly pay because I know that the side effect of it would be the immediate elimination of spammers, whose existence rely on how easy is today sending bulks of hundreds of thousands posts for free.