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Monetization Gateway: Charge for any resource behind Cloudflare via x402

blog.cloudflare.com

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Re: Monetization Gateway: Charge for any resource behind Cloudflare via x402

#231

Post by fizzbuzzdizz »

jeremyjh wrote: post #177
hightrix wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue a nightmare for most. Turning everything into a microtransaction / subscription is destroying what was good about the internet.

Advertising and all the anti-patterns it incentivizes are worse.If the payments are very low and frictionless this could be very good for the internet - as long as Cloudflare is only the first and not the only.

in no world is advertising worse. 0. none. you’re utterly delusional as the people pushing this are thinking anyone is going to pay for their garbage content behind 10cent micro transactions

Re: Monetization Gateway: Charge for any resource behind Cloudflare via x402

#232

Post by fizzbuzzdizz »

cedws wrote: post #164
incompatible wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A dream for some, a nightmare for others. People locked out from much of the Internet because they don't have enough money. Of course, the prices would usually be set at whatever maximises revenue, just check out scientific journal publishing.

Conversely this has the potential to unlock the internet. How often have you clicked a paywalled link on HN and moved on because you don't want to go through the hassle and pay $20 to read an article? If you could be frictionlessly billed 10c to read the article instead, wouldn't you be more willing? I'm actually OK with paying a fair price for the content I consume, I just don't want to be paying hundreds of subscri…

“unlock the internet” by locking it up. yep that makes sense. ship it.

Re: Monetization Gateway: Charge for any resource behind Cloudflare via x402

#233

Post by zmj »

cphoover wrote: post #111

This doesn't seem to solve the issue that website operators face... which is providing a free public experience to humans while the price of hosting is driven up by increased bot traffic. The issue isn't charging for API access with request caps, that's not hard to do. It's preserving the free experience for our users while our traffic is increasingly made up of bots. The problem is that AI has made it increasingly d…

This is basically the same problem as bear-safe trash cans - there's substantial overlap between the smartest bears and stupidest humans. Affordances that one audience can use and the other can't (requiring human finger dexterity) are the only real solution.

Re: Monetization Gateway: Charge for any resource behind Cloudflare via x402

#235

Post by thm »

arjie wrote: post #121

This is the dream of microtransactions and agents-paying-for-access that so many people have always wanted. It was never going to be implemented on existing payment rails so it would have to be something like this. I can't wait to see it in play somewhere because I am increasingly annoyed that I have to own API keys on various platforms etc. etc. I just want my agent to make decisions and spend a limited amount of mo…

People never wanted microtransactions, and agents are not people.

Re: Monetization Gateway: Charge for any resource behind Cloudflare via x402

#236

Post by acejam »

t-3 wrote: post #210
cedws wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely this has the potential to unlock the internet. How often have you clicked a paywalled link on HN and moved on because you don't want to go through the hassle and pay $20 to read an article? If you could be frictionlessly billed 10c to read the article instead, wouldn't you be more willing? I'm actually OK with paying a fair price for the content I consume, I just don't want to be paying hundreds of subscri…

Which payment processor will charge less than 10c per transaction?

The idea is that a payment processor isn't involved at all

Re: Monetization Gateway: Charge for any resource behind Cloudflare via x402

#237

Post by throwthrowuknow »

fizzbuzzdizz wrote: post #230
wpapper wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for the kind words! I’m a PM on the team that is building this. I’ve believed in microtransactions for over a decade and hope that we can finally bring them to life. Proper spend delegation and permissions is a big focus of ours - it’s great to let your agent have discretion, as long as the damage from going off course is limited. Definitely want people to feel comfortable experimenting with emerging tech F…

first video games, then phone apps, and now finally the web. the micro transactionification of everything is complete! what a wonderful world we live in. just know people will remember your role you played in this, and if you think history is going to look at you kindly you have a very very rude awakening comming

This is an attempt to fix the currently broken payment system for the web that has caused a lot of the problems we face: clickbait, paywalls, requiring account signup, ad bloat, personal info collection, etc.

It would enable informational sites to fund themselves with small anonymous payments per article instead of squeezing ad revenue and personal data out of their customers.

Incumbents will hopefully be disrupted by this enabling more independent authors to actually make a living.

Re: Monetization Gateway: Charge for any resource behind Cloudflare via x402

#238

Post by turtlebits »

incompatible wrote: post #161
arjie wrote: post #121

This is the dream of microtransactions and agents-paying-for-access that so many people have always wanted. It was never going to be implemented on existing payment rails so it would have to be something like this. I can't wait to see it in play somewhere because I am increasingly annoyed that I have to own API keys on various platforms etc. etc. I just want my agent to make decisions and spend a limited amount of mo…

A dream for some, a nightmare for others. People locked out from much of the Internet because they don't have enough money. Of course, the prices would usually be set at whatever maximises revenue, just check out scientific journal publishing.

As the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Servers cost money.

Users pay for it with their privacy/data. Intrusive ads. Dark patterns.

The increasing eyeballs on screen time is a net negative for society. I would say consuming content should come with some friction.

My screentime would drastically decrease if even it was partial cents per video.

Re: Monetization Gateway: Charge for any resource behind Cloudflare via x402

#239

Post by baby_souffle »

fizzbuzzdizz wrote: post #231
jeremyjh wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advertising and all the anti-patterns it incentivizes are worse.If the payments are very low and frictionless this could be very good for the internet - as long as Cloudflare is only the first and not the only.

in no world is advertising worse. 0. none. you’re utterly delusional as the people pushing this are thinking anyone is going to pay for their garbage content behind 10cent micro transactions

> no world is advertising worse. 0. none. you’re utterly delusional as the people pushing this are thinking anyone is going to pay for their garbage content behind 10cent micro transactions

The current political situation we find ourselves in is partly due to the destruction of real journalism caused because people won’t pay for timely and accurate news. Advertising perverts incentives; I need you entertained - not informed - to make money…

Re: Monetization Gateway: Charge for any resource behind Cloudflare via x402

#240

Post by fizzbuzzdizz »

throwthrowuknow wrote: post #237
fizzbuzzdizz wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

first video games, then phone apps, and now finally the web. the micro transactionification of everything is complete! what a wonderful world we live in. just know people will remember your role you played in this, and if you think history is going to look at you kindly you have a very very rude awakening comming

This is an attempt to fix the currently broken payment system for the web that has caused a lot of the problems we face: clickbait, paywalls, requiring account signup, ad bloat, personal info collection, etc. It would enable informational sites to fund themselves with small anonymous payments per article instead of squeezing ad revenue and personal data out of their customers. Incumbents will hopefully be disrupted b…

if i made a list of the worst possible solutions the problems you just listed number one on that list is this idea. if you think for a second that this will solve even ONE of those problems i have a bridge to sell you

clickbait: the revenue per click is going to go up thus driving even more incentive to produce clickbait titles with no real content (hey they have already paid by the time they find out its not real but o well). also enter the age of AI agent clickbait designed specifically to entice them. you just made the existing problem worse and created a new one

paywalls: well yeah, it makes the paywall go away, by paying, just like you could today

not collecting personal info: yeah other than the ledger of every single article you’ve ever clicked and paid for

account signups: you think cloudflare will be the only one in the game? welcome to a world of 50 different micropayment wallets you have to maintain and keep funded or you wont be able to browse the internet

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