Live data from Hacker News

Flattr 2.0 launches to the public

blog.flattr.net

41–50 of 147 posts

Re: Flattr 2.0 launches to the public

#41

The key to a concept like this is massive, massive adoption by content creators. Flattr has been around for 7+ years and it's still relatively non-existent. Heck, the subreddit has 63 subscribers. Don't get me wrong. I love the idea and was trying to pitch people for funding on this almost 10 years ago and never hit anything but a brick wall.

Classic chicken-egg problem.

1. Why should a creator subscribe if it's not going to be a relevant revenue stream?

2. Why should a consumer subscribe (at a fixed fee, no less) if their favorite creators do not support it?

Re: Flattr 2.0 launches to the public

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the main reason basically everyone has switched to uBlock Origin. Which, by the way, works quite well.

And ghostery

Doesn't Ghostery too make money from selling their hoarded user data to the very same advertisers and marketers?

EDIT: Yep, it does - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostery#Business_model

Re: Flattr 2.0 launches to the public

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the main reason basically everyone has switched to uBlock Origin. Which, by the way, works quite well.

And ghostery

Which also has an interesting opt-in Business Model.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostery#Business_model

Re: Flattr 2.0 launches to the public

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the main reason basically everyone has switched to uBlock Origin. Which, by the way, works quite well.

And ghostery

"Millions of people use the tool Ghostery to block online tracking technology—some may not realize that it feeds data to the ad industry."

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/516156/a-popular-ad-block...

Re: Flattr 2.0 launches to the public

#45
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flattr expects you to give this money back to other authors you like What does this mean? By the way, apparently the full fee is now quite higher: https://blog.flattr.net/2017/10/our-new-fee-structure/

As a European user, that surely is motivating me to sign up. yeah, we got rid of an efficient payment method so you'll be paying even more. But it's userfriendly that way! Given that the amounts are going to fluctuate anyways, I wonder if tracking multiple currencies would really be so bad?

Yup. SEPA wire transfers are amazing, and it's scandalous how the credit card oligopoly keeps the US in the dark ages when it comes to banking.

But America lives off credit, so nothing's going to change any time soon.

Re: Flattr 2.0 launches to the public

#46
post #2

> Install the desktop extension If they are expecting me to _install_ something on my precious machine, they'd better be damn explicit what it is and what _exactly_ it does. I can see bits about this and that spread across their blog posts, but nothing cohesive and nothing on the home page itself. All in all though - they appear to be wanting a real-time access to the browsing activity and its full history. That's, o…

There is [1] with a little bit about the privacy issue, but yes you have to trust them, not sending more than the urls to flatter. [1]: https://blog.flattr.net/2017/06/key-elements-of-the-new-flat...

It shouldn't even be returning URLs, it should return URL hashes. Even returning URLs seems like a privacy nightmare.

Re: Flattr 2.0 launches to the public

#48

I would like to point out two things about Flattr: - Whenever other people send you money, Flattr keeps 10% from that money. - When you make money with Flattr, Flattr expects you to give this money back to other authors you like. And they will send them back to other authors. As the money are sent back and forth, and 10% are removed at each step, Flattr is the only one actually making any money.

It's a bit more insidious than 10%.

Flattr takes 7.5%.

Their payment processor takes 9%.

Withdrawing costs you $3.

And people call Patreon's 5% (on top of Stripe's 3%) outrageous. I guess it's better than the walled garden 30%, for popular enough sites.

Re: Flattr 2.0 launches to the public

#49

I was initially very excited to see this post. I have always believed that flattr's subscription/contribution model could be so important for supporting creatives and grassroots efforts. So I'm disappointed that it seems I can't signup and contribute without installing a browser plugin that can read and change all my browser data and browser history... nope. Flattr team, please fix that and I'll consider giving you a…

> P.S. I've been keeping my eye open for someone trying to implement this subscription/contribution model using blockchain. I haven't been able to find anything -- anyone seen that yet?

What makes you think blockchain is in any form, a relevant, or good tool for this?

Re: Flattr 2.0 launches to the public

#50
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is [1] with a little bit about the privacy issue, but yes you have to trust them, not sending more than the urls to flatter. [1]: https://blog.flattr.net/2017/06/key-elements-of-the-new-flat...

It shouldn't even be returning URLs, it should return URL hashes. Even returning URLs seems like a privacy nightmare.

Since the entire purpose of transmitting URLs is making decisions (payment, provide info to potential customers) based on the URL, hashing wouldn't do anything.
Post reply on HN