Testing an Ad-Free Microtransaction Utopia

MrAndrews writes "After reading a Slashdot story about adblocking and the lively discussion that followed, I got to wondering how else sites can support themselves, if paywalls and ads are both non-starters. Microtransactions have been floated for years, but never seem to take off, possibly because they come off as arbitrary taxation or cumbersome walled-garden novelties. Still, it seems like the idea of microtransactions is still appealing, it's just the wrapping that's always been flawed. I wanted to know how viable the concept really was, so I've created a little experiment to gather some data, to put some real numbers to it. It's a purely voluntary system, where you click 1, 2 or 3-cent links in your bookmark bar, depending on how much you value the page you're visiting. No actual money is involved, it's just theoretical. There's a summary page that tells you how much you would have spent, and I'll be releasing anonymized analyses of the data in the coming weeks. If you're game, please check out the experiment page for more information, and give it a go. Even if you only use it once and forget about it, that says something about the concept right there."

Comments

No actual money is involved

[Anonymous Coward]

Might skew the results a bit.

Re:No actual money is involved

[girlintraining]

It is not a valid experiment exactly because it is artificial and no real money is involved. The results will tell us nothing of value about the question.

Yes, in exactly the same way the Stanford Prison Experiment didn't teach us anything about human behavior because it wasn't a real prison...

Or

[GeneralTurgidson]

Go back to when people had web sites as a hobby and not this SEO, per click revenue blog spam shithole we have today.

Re:Or

[AmiMoJo]

Books and libraries are still relevant because reviewed and edited content is valuable. I was looking for info on making model train layouts and there are loads of forums and hobbyist witted that look like they were built in 1998, but nothing with a complete illustrated tutorial using materials available in my country.

Re:Has to be real money

[Trepidity]

Most of the proposals are based on aggregating the "give this person 3 cents" indicators through some kind of intermediary platform, not processing them all on the spot. For example, with Flattr you pay Flattr once per month, and then you indicate how you want the money distributed by clicking on various things. The money isn't sent immediately then either, but accumulates in the recipient's acocunt, and is paid out when they reach a threshold. So on both the pay-in and pay-out sides the transactions are fewer and bigger.

The trick is getting enough people to sign up for such a thing for it to be at all viable.

Mod Points

[Master Moose]

I usually spend my mod points when /. award them to me.

I have no issue with this. If I had to pay for Mods, there is no way I would have ever spent 1.

Re:you realize you are asking on an ad supported s

[93 Escort Wagon]

commenters are, in general, a bunch of angry cranks who get a buzz out of spewing bile and hatred through their keyboard.

Shut the hell up.

Re:Nickel & Dimed to Death

[BradleyUffner]

The other problem is that they don't actually nickle and dime you, they $1 and $5 you. They never seem to understand the "micro" part of micro transaction.