So my thoughts. 1. I don't like ads. They look ugly and people will block them. Also, advertisers prefer sites that have content that is quickly digestible - so that the user will quickly load another page and thus another ad. I don't want that kind of pressure on hubski. I prefer the more thoughtful, long-form discussion that we have now over some quickly digestible memes. 2. I don't like the subscription model. To quote goo: I, personally, wouldn't have stayed for a second after I had seen that it would eventually cost me money when I was a new user. Now that I've been here for a while, I'll gladly pay, but I wouldn't even do the 30 day trial if on day one I was told this was going to cost me. The subscription model will scare away new users before they get the chance to see how great this place is. It would have scared me away. 3. I like the idea of the NPR/Wikipedia model. I would pay, and I'm sure that many others would as well after they begin to get involved in the community. If there were other "value added" things, that would also be pretty cool. I also like the "reddit gold" idea of being able to gild a well written comment or post and give someone that subscription to these added perks for a brief amount of time. This would be my preferred model from a user's standpoint. The question is: will it generate enough revenue? I think that a "hubski gold" model will be more effective on here than on somewhere like reddit. Reddit has a lot of users (but not all) that are just there for entertainment and then fuck off. Hubski has a more thoughtful and discussion oriented user base that cares more about the site. Many redditors wouldn't care where they got their cat pictures from, as long as they get them. They aren't invested in the site. Hubski users are invested in the site and the community. We have friends here. We are more likely to want to support our home.The issue I see with the subscription is it's a freaking subscription. I could only really see the regulars paying for one without a second thought. When I came here from elsewhere, I would have been immediately put off by the idea that it would eventually cost me money to use this site. Hubski is slow to grow and pull in users, so this may make that even worse. The regulars would all buy one, and then where would we be?
and my response later in that thread: People move on and don't stay in one place forever. At least some of our regulars will eventually move on for whatever reason. If we don't have enough new people replacing them, this place will stagnate and shrink. I don't want to see that.
I feel like we consider badges to be Hubski gold, and they're free. Just my $.02 on what the perception has seemed to me. I guess the difference is that there is no special r/lounge or anything, but otherwise, the point of Reddit gold has always seemed to me to be to highlight a comment that another user finds particularly poignant or so on. I have my own problems with the "gold" phenomenon in that sometimes gilding is used not really because the comment being gilded is so great, but basically to reinforce a discussion. A comment that is gilded gets more attention. If you are arguing someone (on Reddit or I guess here) and have the money to throw around, you could easily just gild or have your throwaways gild a few comments of yours that support your viewpoint, and because they are gilded, they are going to look like more valuable comments to readers. As a result I theorize these comments would 'naturally' accrue more upvotes and attention even if they're not actually better or more grounded than their opposition.
That doesn't mean that we couldn't monetize them. As amouseinmyhouse said:Your value add model is an interesting one and it's worked successfully in games for quite some time. The basic gist to the video game version is to open the platform as a simple, but complete, space where you gain access to more functionality through time. You can bypass the time restrictions through money. Take Team Fortress 2 for example. All of the weapons in the game that have effect on actual game play can be unlocked through actual game play, or you can spend a few bucks and buy the weapons now. Such a system could easily apply to hubski where you earn gold tokens through the slow acclimation of social capital, or you can buy them in bulk with bit capital. This is one of the more interesting systems for me, but creating such a system would take a lot of time and consideration.