6 ms·

If you want me to read your comment, please pay me $1 first... if I find your comment interesting I might refund.

by k8sToGo 8mo ago

hermanb 8mo ago
I had this idea / pet project once where I did exactly this for email. Emails would immediately bounce with payment link and explanation. If you paid you get credit on a ledger per email address. Only then the mail goes through. You can also integrate it in clients by adding payment/reward claim headers.
- Fnoord 8mo ago
  Bill Gates already had this idea. All efforts to change email were already documented 25 years ago. The biggest changes are it is more centralized these days, SPF/DKIM/DMARC, JMAP innovation, oh... and one more thing! It is HUGE!! HTML email is the default...
  - TurdF3rguson 8mo ago
    Yeah I remember this from "The Road Ahead" which I chanced upon one time in the 90s. I thought it was a silly idea.
- zx8080 8mo ago
  Scammers (and spammers) always got $1! That's why there's a lot of the scam ads on google, fb, apple. So the paywall email firewall will not work as desired.
  - Dylan16807 8mo ago
    Not many email attacks are worth an entire dollar. It would be very very effective at reducing spam. And too effective at reducing everything else.
    - zx8080 8mo ago
      Emails to CEOs they do worth.
      - Dylan16807 8mo ago
        So only CEOs will get spam, and it's effective for 99.9% of people? I would not describe that as "will not work as desired".
        AnthonyMouse 8mo ago
        And it would even still work for the CEO, they would just have to charge more than $1. The real problem is we don't have a low-friction digital payment system that allows individuals to automate sending payment requests for small amounts of money to each other without requiring everyone to sign up for a merchant account with a financial bureaucracy.
        SJC_Hacker 8mo ago
        > The real problem is we don't have a low-friction digital payment system that allows individuals to automate sending payment requests for small amounts of money to each other without requiring everyone to sign up for a merchant account with a financial bureaucracy. Its called cryptocurrency
        AnthonyMouse 8mo ago
        First you have to make it low-friction. If I want Joe Average to send me $1 in cryptocurrency, how is he getting $1 in cryptocurrency to send me?
        nobody9999 8mo ago
        >First you have to make it low-friction. If I want Joe Average to send me $1 in cryptocurrency, how is he getting $1 in cryptocurrency to send me? Absolutely. You're 1000% correct. Cryptocurrency is way too high friction for stuff like that. When I wish to spend crypto, I need to: [If you don't have an exchange account already, you'll need the 0.x steps too!] 0.0 Create an account on an exchange which is legally allowed to operate in your state/country; 0.1 Provide all sorts of KYC/AML info including photos of yourself and your government ID; 0.2 Wait hours/days/weeks for the exchange to "validate" your KYC/AML info and allow you to purchase crypto; 1. Log in to an exchange which is actually allowed to operate in the place where one resides; 2. Purchase Bitcoin or other coin the exchange deems appropriate (leaving aside the hefty fee charged for using fiat currency/traditional credit card); 3. Wait days/weeks until the exchange allows you to transfer the purchased cryptocurrency out of your exchange-hosted wallet; 4. Transfer crypto to a wallet you actually control; 5. Convert the crypto purchased on the exchange to the crypto coin required for whatever your purpose may be; 6. Transmit the crypto to the destination wallet. Total time (not including setting up the exchange account, which can take anywhere from 1-10 days): 3-10 days. Much too high friction for small payments, IMHO.
jt2190 8mo ago
The market currently values your reading of HN comments at $0.
- AlexCoventry 8mo ago
  I'm sure astroturfers value it more highly than that.
  - vasco 8mo ago
    The only way for you to be sure of that is if you're one.
    - johnnyanmac 8mo ago
      I'm sure there's literature out there on how much astroturfers are paid.
eps 8mo ago
Who's hit with the transaction fees though?

If you want me to read your comment, please pay me $1 first... if I find your comment interesting I might refund.

by k8sToGo 8mo ago

If you want me to read your comment, please pay me $1 first... if I find your comment interesting I might refund.

I had this idea / pet project once where I did exactly this for email. Emails would immediately bounce with payment link and explanation. If you paid you get credit on a ledger per email address. Only then the mail goes through. You can also integrate it in clients by adding payment/reward claim headers.

Fnoord 8mo ago
Bill Gates already had this idea. All efforts to change email were already documented 25 years ago. The biggest changes are it is more centralized these days, SPF/DKIM/DMARC, JMAP innovation, oh... and one more thing! It is HUGE!! HTML email is the default...
- TurdF3rguson 8mo ago
  Yeah I remember this from "The Road Ahead" which I chanced upon one time in the 90s. I thought it was a silly idea.
zx8080 8mo ago
Scammers (and spammers) always got $1! That's why there's a lot of the scam ads on google, fb, apple. So the paywall email firewall will not work as desired.
- Dylan16807 8mo ago
  Not many email attacks are worth an entire dollar. It would be very very effective at reducing spam. And too effective at reducing everything else.
  - zx8080 8mo ago
    Emails to CEOs they do worth.
    - Dylan16807 8mo ago
      So only CEOs will get spam, and it's effective for 99.9% of people? I would not describe that as "will not work as desired".
      - AnthonyMouse 8mo ago
        And it would even still work for the CEO, they would just have to charge more than $1. The real problem is we don't have a low-friction digital payment system that allows individuals to automate sending payment requests for small amounts of money to each other without requiring everyone to sign up for a merchant account with a financial bureaucracy.
        SJC_Hacker 8mo ago
        > The real problem is we don't have a low-friction digital payment system that allows individuals to automate sending payment requests for small amounts of money to each other without requiring everyone to sign up for a merchant account with a financial bureaucracy. Its called cryptocurrency
        AnthonyMouse 8mo ago
        First you have to make it low-friction. If I want Joe Average to send me $1 in cryptocurrency, how is he getting $1 in cryptocurrency to send me?
        nobody9999 8mo ago
        >First you have to make it low-friction. If I want Joe Average to send me $1 in cryptocurrency, how is he getting $1 in cryptocurrency to send me? Absolutely. You're 1000% correct. Cryptocurrency is way too high friction for stuff like that. When I wish to spend crypto, I need to: [If you don't have an exchange account already, you'll need the 0.x steps too!] 0.0 Create an account on an exchange which is legally allowed to operate in your state/country; 0.1 Provide all sorts of KYC/AML info including photos of yourself and your government ID; 0.2 Wait hours/days/weeks for the exchange to "validate" your KYC/AML info and allow you to purchase crypto; 1. Log in to an exchange which is actually allowed to operate in the place where one resides; 2. Purchase Bitcoin or other coin the exchange deems appropriate (leaving aside the hefty fee charged for using fiat currency/traditional credit card); 3. Wait days/weeks until the exchange allows you to transfer the purchased cryptocurrency out of your exchange-hosted wallet; 4. Transfer crypto to a wallet you actually control; 5. Convert the crypto purchased on the exchange to the crypto coin required for whatever your purpose may be; 6. Transmit the crypto to the destination wallet. Total time (not including setting up the exchange account, which can take anywhere from 1-10 days): 3-10 days. Much too high friction for small payments, IMHO.

jt2190 8mo ago

The market currently values your reading of HN comments at $0.

AlexCoventry 8mo ago
I'm sure astroturfers value it more highly than that.
- vasco 8mo ago
  The only way for you to be sure of that is if you're one.
  - johnnyanmac 8mo ago
    I'm sure there's literature out there on how much astroturfers are paid.

eps 8mo ago

Who's hit with the transaction fees though?