the sad thing is is tumblr thought they had to monetize through ads, so they had to do this so they could get reputable advertisers, but
like
if they had just hired some people to actually cultivate a good website and then asked us how we’d like the site monetized? we could have come up with something
on NPR today they were talking to The Guardian, the UK paper. Asking one of their execs how it is, exactly, in the era of dying print media, The Guardian stays afloat without charging to access their online content.
And they explained that when it became clear that the industry was irreversibly changing, they asked thousands of their readers to come in over the course of a weekend and sat them down in groups and asked what they would like the revenue model to look like going forward, keeping in mind that the paper would still need to bring in a profit somehow. The overwhelming response was “I am willing to pay for this to be free for everyone”. So The Guardian is funded by subscribers who pay because they think it’s a worthwhile service, even though all the content is available for free.
Which is also, incidentally, how things like NPR (and Maximum Fun podcasts) are funded. And how Wikipedia is funded. And how many people run their patreons – no exclusives. You just pay because you want to support the product. It’s how a lot of the best stuff in the internet age is funded.
Other online media (whether it’s patreon or podcasts or video games or w/e) offer tiny inconsequential but fun benefits for paying. Maybe tumblr donors get cute options for frames for their icons. Maybe they get access to extra themes. Pay more on this video game for a fun skin for your character that doesn’t change the gameplay. Pay more on tumblr and you can have animated icons. Something different could’ve been done.
I mean, for us to be willing to pay for it, they’d also need to try to build a functioning website. Something they’ve been royally fucking up for years now. Still no easy blacklist, limited search features, limited privacy features, links breaking everywhere…
But if @staff had made a real good faith effort to create a good user experience that prevented bots and protected users and then asked us 1) what kind of site we wanted 2) what income model we’d prefer to support, I feel like we could’ve come up with something.
As it is the site is in a downward spiral and that sucks.
This. Rather than ask users what they want, Tumblr is choosing to tell users what they’re going to get, and if they don’t like it, too bad. And if I want to be dommed, I’ll go back to Fetlifr.
That’s pretty much how LiveJournal was run: a basic account was free, but you could pay for a premium account, which allowed you all kinds of special benefits – extra icon slots, for example, so you could swap your userpic out according to what kind of post you were writing, etc.
I believe this is also how Dreamwidth prices itself. It would work, if they’d asked us.
the winter break is coming up and the good news is that i’ll be able to stay on campus. i can’t live with my parents because they are abusive, and when i stay with my sister it is harder for her to pay bills and keep my nephew fed. so living on campus is my best option.
the bad news is that i work for my school (which doesn’t pay well in the first place) and with the semester officially over, i wont have any income for the month of december. my final paycheck, due to the way the hourly schedule and the way my school pays students (only paid on the 10th and 25th each month) will be a little under 20 dollars. if i could have some help staying afloat until january i’d really appreciate it. i’m setting my goal at $200. i can live off of 50 dollars of groceries each week and the last 50 is for toiletries. if everyone who saw this could give a dollar i would be set—please don’t feel like small donations don’t help. i’m trying my best to find a job that will pay better but not many employers in my area will work with my hours as a student and any job i would get this month probably wouldn’t pay me in time to get what i need.
paypal.me/sierrad7
cash.me/$unstoppableflowerboy
i also keep an amazon wishlist of stuff, it’s a hodgepodge of wants and needs so id be grateful if you got something from the list but donations are my main priority so i can eat
please message me if you need to see anything that would help you confirm this–hours worked, pay stubs etc. i don’t normally share that stuff on these posts for privacy reasons
60/200! again, any little amount helps
$68/200
$76/200
$134/200 and thanks so much to the person who got the food off my wishlist!
$154/200!!!!!!!
hi all. i still need help, but my sister recently had a t.i.a. and was hospitalized—if anyone wants to send money to help her with the hospital bill please leave a note saying that it’s for her with your donations.
so last night when i was trying to sleep y’know it was dark and quiet and my eyes were closed but then i suddenly started laughing because i remembered this gif
i arrive at the gay bar in full butch getup and i look like super hot like trust me and i start buying chocolate milk for the femmes at the bar…..between my striking good looks and my generosity concerning tasteful dairy products i have impressed them greatly and after an hour of chatting I make my move. i reach into my pocket and remove a large, gorgeous lichen affixed to a piece of bark from its protective herbarium packet that I have concealed in my pants pocket. “it’s a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and an algae,” i begin,
You say shitpost but I swear to god I would pick up the U-haul on our way home from the bar don’t try me
ForLoveFromFear 