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Re: [projectvrm] "I am not a brand."


Chronological Thread 
  • From: Jay Gairson < >
  • To: Alec Muffett < >
  • Cc: " " < >, Christy Eller < >, Alan Patrick < >, " " < >
  • Subject: Re: [projectvrm] "I am not a brand."
  • Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:44:02 -0700
A middleman would help me pay all of the sites that I use, rather than just
the few that receive my money. It is easier to pay one person $50/mo, than
10 people $5/mo. At least I feel that the former aggregation "saves" me
money - at the very least it saves me money in terms of transactional costs.

As for it being blackmail. You can think of it that way. Or you can think
of it as "The site needs support somehow. Ad services are one way to do
accomplish that, but the ad provider gives you an opt-out that still pays the
site." Of course, the site could offer that service directly, but that
depends on them implementing a payment system, a transaction database, and
upgrading their site so they can control the behavior. While a third party
could indirectly control it through a login cookie, plugin, or similar device
in exchange for a small payment. Of course, then you have to worry about
what they do with the data they will obviously collect on your browsing
habits (that they already collect).

I guess, if they are already doing it, why not present an alternative?


On the other hand, I'm a real fan of the idea behind flattr:
http://flattr.com/ I have some quibbles with how they are implementing it,
but I think the concept is good. I was looking at doing something similar
myself, which is part of why I joined this list, but had not had the time to
implement it. Which, I suppose, is why I try to take the philosophical view
of "At least someone is doing it! Better than me putting it in my head, but
never getting around to it."

- Jay


On Jun 23, 2010, at 11:45 PM, Alec Muffett wrote:

>
> On 24 Jun 2010, at 00:39, Jay Gairson wrote:
>
>> What I would love to see is an ad agency that gives consumers a choice.
>> Essentially the policy would be as follows:
>> * We will post ads on websites, here are the top websites we are on, and
>> you will see those ads.
>> * If you do not want to see those ads, you can pay us _FLAT FEE_ per
>> month/week/day or _BY USE FEE_ per month/week/day to avoid ads.
>> * We will pay the website owners as if you had viewed the ads on them that
>> you are paying us not to see.
>
>
> That's so strange; I would rather directly pay a website where I though the
> content was worth paying for.
>
> The above just sounds like blackmail ("pay us X or you will see Y").
>
> Why have the middleman?
>
> Oh, wait, there are people out there who make a living off advertising...
> Duh.
>
> -a
>
> --
>
> http://dropsafe.crypticide.com/
>
>
>


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