

Flattr does not work on smallish blogs - preek
http://blog.dispatched.ch/2010/10/31/flattr-does-not-work-on-smallish-blogs/

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3pt14159
Why doesn't flattr just give people a javascript bookmark? Just click on the
bookmark and it will register that site as being flattred, once a site has 10
(or a hundred) flattr hits flattr the company can attempt to contact the site
owner. The problem with all these micropayment sites is that only 0.01% of
site visitors use them and only 0.01% of websites use them, so the odds of
actually coming across a micropayments site, even if you have a flatter
account, is so low that it is silly.

Also, there should be a public aspect when I flattr someone, I should be able
to do it privately if I want to, but if my friends are following my flattr.
That does two things, it makes it transparent that flattr is not just a scam,
because if there are 1000 people that flattr a xkcd comic and xkcd comes out
and says that he never got a dime then criminal charges can be pressed. The
second thing it does is it shows which sites are actually worth checking out.

I assume that there is going to be a long tail of flattrs, to handle that
flattr should keep a pool of money set aside that earns interest, that way
they can give someone the net present value of their flattrs when they finally
get their cheque 3 years later.

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eileentso
Great suggestion/comment (and example with xkcd). Have a look at the public
Flattr wishlist which includes a bookmarklet to drag-n-drop for people to use
-- <https://flattr.com/wishlist>

We'll try to contact as many people as possible (more straightforward with
specific websites/pages, harder to achieve for say comments on a blog post,
etc). Please keep the feedback and suggestions coming!

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Udo
Well, it's kind of obvious why it doesn't work. I visit a lot of blogs and
can't remember that I ever stumbled across a flatter gadget. To be fair, I
probably wouldn't have noticed anyway. Still, I believe the idea behind flattr
is valuable. It will probably be a long time until it gains any traction,
let's hope they hold out that long. Because chances are Facebook WILL copy
this and it will be an instant success then.

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parbo
Paying to hit "Like"? That is a really good idea actually. Wouldn't it also
make sense if Flattr-ing something also "liked" it on Facebook? Something like
posting "XYZ Flattrd foo.com" on XYZ's wall. That would also bring marketing
to the Flattr concept.

~~~
viraptor
They already do that on both Facebook and Twitter. Connecting your account is
optional though.

<http://twitter.com/#search?q=flattred>

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mrkurt
Flattr fascinates me, but it has this big problem. A site like the one I work
for isn't going to use it because the Flattr user base isn't big enough to
make it worthwhile. They need big sites onboard, though, or they'll never get
the coverage necessary to make it worthwhile.

I think the title for this could be "Flattr doesn't work because there aren't
enough Flattr users".

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AndrewMoffat
Sounds like a very difficult wall to get over. I imagine most people will hear
about Flattr through a blog or some service accepting payments with it. Only
if they're curious enough about it will they go find out what it is, and then
once they understand that they work of registering is so that other people can
have their money, they have to still be compelled to signup and use it.

Unless each blog/service using it makes it explicit that they're accepting
flattr donations, but nobody wants to be that site sounding like they're
begging for handouts.

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roschdal
The fact that this blog hasn't received any Flattrs in 10000 pageviews doesn't
mean that Flattr does not work for other types of content.

I have used Flattr for a while on <http://freeciv.net> and have received over
200 flattrs recently.

~~~
preek
I'm glad you made some revenue and/or publicity via flattr. But may I say that
I pointed to that in my article:

"By no means does my experiment imply any significant validity for the general
public, but I see no reason to keep the advertising buttons on my blog,
either."

BTW: Thanks for that link. It has been quite some time that I played FreeCIV.
To make it playable online is a nice feat. Thanks for that!

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kilian
It seems to work reasonably well* on my small blog :) anecdote, data etc.

*With reasonably well I mean I make about break even, which is good enough for me.

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pornel
I wish I could show Flattr button only to Flattr users.

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preek
Great point! If that were possible, I'd put them back online.

It wouldn't "spread the word", but hey - right now I'd be doing advertisement
without benefits.

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preek
I had to redirect traffic from my WP installation to posterous. My server was
not able to take the load. Thanks HN for the interest in my humble thoughts.

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noglorp
I really think Flattr is misapplied to blogs, to be honest.

I don't want to go around giving micro payments to bloggers to be honest. The
things that make me want to Flattr are, well, THINGS.

Applications, tech demos, pieces of art. Things that make me have fun and feel
appreciative, rather than things that make me go "Oh, that is useful
information" or "Oh, that is an insightful comment".

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sp4rki
I don't think flattr will work just because this type of service needs a huge
user base and a huge customer base to work. IMO the best thing that could
happen to flattr, is being bought by Facebook. Facebook has the users and the
range to actually make this work, though I doubt the overhead is worth it for
them.

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StavrosK
Extrapolation does not work on smallish sample sizes.

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preek
I know about that and pointed that out. Anyway, do you mathematically see a
good reason to keep advertising a service from the sample it does not work in?

~~~
StavrosK
I'm afraid I don't understand the question :/ My issue was with the submission
title, mostly.

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mischa_u
As I don't see any flattr gadget on the dispatched.ch blog, maybe the author
forgot to enable it explains the lack of results?

~~~
preek
"but I see no reason to keep the advertising buttons on my blog, either"

I disabled them today, just before posting. Thanks for letting me know,
anyway^^

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citricsquid
<http://notch.tumblr.com> uses it too.

