Penny per Post · 17 January 2008 by Crosbie Fitch
Tel said 6181 days ago :
It’s an interesting concept you have working here, I think it needs a bit more explanation at the fundamental level.
For example, how do I check the level of my own funds? I presume there must be a centralised database of all transactions somewhere (i.e. a bank).
Similarly, how do I check whether someone I might consider dealing with has the ability to pay me?
Crosbie Fitch said 6181 days ago :
The Contingency Market is the database that keeps track of all the events, contingencies, offers, deals, and who owes who what, etc. The penny-per-post site simply turns RSS news into events, and sponsorship into deals on contingencies dependent upon those events.
It is then via a Digital Productions PayPal account that dues can be settled, e.g. 50 readers’ pennies ending up as 50p credited to the blogger, but only 37p available to withdraw until 13 other readers get round to paying their dues.
Some readers will have accounts that say they owe a total of 6p given six bloggers they’ve sponsored have sinced published an article. They may by that time be sponsoring 38 bloggers, so they could pay 44p if they wanted to pay their dues and cover up to 38 more articles. They could wait until they owed a couple of quid. It’s up to the reader.
A blogger will be fully informed as to how much sponsorship they have been pledged, and how much has actually been paid (available to withdraw). They can also find out how much they are currently being sponsored, and what proportion of that sponsorship is liquid (covered by the sponsors concerned).
No-one needs to pay to participate, but then the whole concept is only expected to appeal to those who do want to pay. Tyre kickers will be welcomed. Moreover, no-one will be chased for defaulting on their pledges. Indeed, bloggers and readers can pull out at any time, being able to withdraw all pledges received, and be refunded any unspent pledges.
Scott Carpenter said 6181 days ago :
That sounds better. I thought there would be individual emails for each reader and it seemed like a lot of overhead for such small payments that way.
(I commented on this post yesterday and initially saw the comment, but then it went away.)
SirStark said 6180 days ago :
Sounds like an interesting way to deal with financing the web publishing. Where can I find a website using this widget?
Crosbie Fitch said 6180 days ago :
Apologies, Scott, if comments disappear. Perhaps the captcha failed? I guess a captcha failure isn’t as obvious as it should be.
Crosbie Fitch said 6180 days ago :
@SirStark: Glad you think it sounds interesting. I’ve only been talking about the one I’m about to develop.
As far as where you might find a website using such a widget already, there’s a sort of widget for people who will blog for advertisers/marketers here payperpost.com. Also check out www.blogitive.com for something similar.
I’m not yet aware of any website where you can find a penny-per-post widget that lets readers sponsor the blogger, but do let me know if you find one.
SirStark said 6179 days ago :
Thanks for the links. If I find any websites using this kind of penny-per-post widget I’ll post the links here.
Btw, the captchas here are rather difficult to read. Especially I’ve got problems distinguishing between B and 8.
Crosbie Fitch said 6179 days ago :
Thanks.
And I’ll see if there’s a better captcha – I need glasses myself.
An overview of a new site that provides bloggers with a widget that lets their readers sponsor them.
A blogger has some readers, the most enthusiastic ones probably being interested in encouraging the blogger to continue writing such good articles. The blogger, in consideration of this likelihood visits the new site to register and obtain a widget that they can put on their blog site.
Once this widget is embedded, the site will keep track of all the new articles published – it is also now assured that it has authentic details of the blogger to whom any credit or monies should be given.
From now on, any of the blogger’s readers will see the widget. This enables the observant and interested reader to click the widget for details of how they can sponsor the blogger to the tune of 1p per post.
For all the readers that decide to become sponsors, their accounts have 1p debited each time a new article is published – as indicated by the blogger’s RSS feed. The blogger in turn has all these pennies credited to their account. The blogger can either withdraw them or use them to sponsor other bloggers, e.g. those bloggers from whom they draw most inspiration.
Bearing in mind that there’s not much point sponsoring a blogger unless the pennies pledged actually turn up, both the sponsor and blogger will receive a weekly e-mail detailing the state of their account with any monies due. This will have a link to enable the payment or withdrawal of funds.