Exploring alternative funding models for the web
blog.mozilla.org
Exploring alternative funding models for the web
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Re: Exploring alternative funding models for the web
#2This is from February, not something new.
(It's still from 2019 so HN probably won't add that info to the title)
Re: Exploring alternative funding models for the web
#3If anything gets adopted it either needs to be from a group of big players (think: Libra) or in a decentralized way with a consortium (blockchain + 2 major browsers). Would love to see it happen, but having a startup run it just won’t surmount the needed push to make it a standard.
Re: Exploring alternative funding models for the web
#4For a long time I've thought that we need a browser based universal tip jar. Some way that lets me read a blog post, and then tip the site with however much I want. 1 cent, 25 cents, 1 dollar, 200 dollars, any amount.
From my understanding of things, the biggest thing in the way is that processing payments costs money.
The second thing is making sure the money goes where it is supposed to. With services like Scroll, the site owner has to register with Scroll. Patreon requires the user register to send money to the site owner.
So, here's a thought, Mozilla should create a tip jar non-profit organization. Tipping would be something built into Firefox. If you tip someone, it's sent to the non-profit's bank, and connected to the url. Site owners could then register with the non-profit, in manner similar to Google Webmaster tools, that would let them access the tips they've received.
Anyway, implementation would be pretty difficult, but I'd rather something like that than hope that my favorite blogger is somehow able to get onto Scroll or another service like that.
Re: Exploring alternative funding models for the web
#5>One such partner that we are collaborating with is Scroll. [...] The service enables web users to pay for an ad-free experience on their favorite sites, across their devices.
To try and understand what this is, I go to the landing page of partner's site, Scroll: https://scroll.com/
Their webpage has no obvious explanation of what this is. Is this a tip jar? Micropayments? Subscription?
I then go to Scroll's blog: https://scroll.blog/
Way way down the page, it finally has this blurb:
>Be a flat monthly subscription at a price consumers would happily pay.
Ok... so what's the price? $9.99/month? $19.99/month?
I see Scroll is offering invitations. Would users signing up with their email know the price? Or is it a free trial?
Re: Exploring alternative funding models for the web
#6Doesn’t Brave already do this?
Re: Exploring alternative funding models for the web
#7For a long time I've thought that we need a browser based universal tip jar. Some way that lets me read a blog post, and then tip the site with however much I want. 1 cent, 25 cents, 1 dollar, 200 dollars, any amount. From my understanding of things, the biggest thing in the way is that processing payments costs money. The second thing is making sure the money goes where it is supposed to. With services like Scroll,…
Tips are cool, but a browser-based micro-payments setup will create a more consistent alternative revenue stream.
Re: Exploring alternative funding models for the web
#8Did you mean: Brave Browser? https://brave.com/
Re: Exploring alternative funding models for the web
#9For a long time I've thought that we need a browser based universal tip jar. Some way that lets me read a blog post, and then tip the site with however much I want. 1 cent, 25 cents, 1 dollar, 200 dollars, any amount. From my understanding of things, the biggest thing in the way is that processing payments costs money. The second thing is making sure the money goes where it is supposed to. With services like Scroll,…
> services like Scroll, the site owner has to register with Scroll. Patreon requires the user register to send money to the site owner.
And the site has to not challenge the current political climate, or (leftist) political activist will pressure payment providers like MasterCard and Visa into banning the site in question from receiving payment from downstream payment services[1].
> Mozilla should create a tip jar non-profit organization. Tipping would be something built into Firefox. If you tip someone, it's sent to the non-profit's bank, and connected to the url.
And the second a anti-religious/anti-Muslim website starts receiving significant money, Mozilla risks getting all payment processing frozen.
> Anyway, implementation would be pretty difficult
Actually that’s the easy part. Avoiding censorship and avoiding being made into a political puppet by the current payment-provider duopoly seems to be what’s difficult.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/patreon/comments/aa5f3d/mastercard_...
Re: Exploring alternative funding models for the web
#10For a long time I've thought that we need a browser based universal tip jar. Some way that lets me read a blog post, and then tip the site with however much I want. 1 cent, 25 cents, 1 dollar, 200 dollars, any amount. From my understanding of things, the biggest thing in the way is that processing payments costs money. The second thing is making sure the money goes where it is supposed to. With services like Scroll,…
> So, here's a thought, Mozilla should create a tip jar non-profit organization. Tipping would be something built into Firefox. If you tip someone, it's sent to the non-profit's bank, and connected to the url. Site owners could then register with the non-profit, in manner similar to Google Webmaster tools, that would let them access the tips they've received.
This is kinda what the Basic Attention Token is in the Brave browser.
You can either tip directly/manually, or setup a monthly payment that gets split automatically among the places you most read. It doesn't require the creator already be a member, but rather it holds the funds until they register, or until 90days have passed.
They've also built in some significant privacy features so that no one can determine who/what you're donating to. Though this leads to one of the contentious issues as refunds are not possible, so when the above mentioned 90 days passes without a donation being claimed, the funds go into the "User Growth Pool" which basically means they are given out to new people joining BAT as an incentive to join.
The big controversy though was exactly the issue of not requiring people sign up before they started accepted BAT donations to them. They had a system of showing if a user was 'verified'[0] meaning they were registered to receive the donations, and nothing would be shown if they were not verified.
This led to an issue where Tom Scott commenting that Brave was taking donations on his behalf without his consent. [1]
Imho that was hugely damaging to the potential of BAT and I think really stemmed from people who didn't use BAT and didn't understand the Verified/Unverified aspect of it. They've added a Non-Verified statement and icon now to make it explicit, but the damage has been done.
[0] http://se.ri0.us/2018-12-22-184516548-9adee.png [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18734999
