I wanted to give post.news the benefit of the doubt, but .. this is really, really not worth anyone's time. Post points? Jfc.
If you're looking for centralized, ethical Mastodon alternatives, Cohost is a much more interesting project to give a second look.
(screenshot from: https://www.niemanlab.org/2022/11/post-the-latest-twitter-alternative-is-betting-big-on-micropayments-for-news/)
@eloquence
Are these Points things that you spend to post things yourself, or things that you spend to get access to premium content of some kind? (Those "publishers" that the founder was all excited about?)
I kind of suspect the latter, and okay I guess? I'm not against journalists getting paid. But I'm not sure it's going to catch on somehow... :P
It's meant to get you past the news paywalls. The problem with these micropayment schemes is that they pass on far too much complexity & mental overhead to people who just want to fuck around online.
"Oh, that's an interesting article! I better go re-charge my Post points!" is not a thing that will happen except in poorly put together slide decks.
@eloquence
I can imagine some kind of setup like EZ-PASS (E-ZPASS?) has, where you give them your CC# and they charge you for $25 worth of Points every time you run out.
Will people put up with that? (No fear you'll accidentally run up charges accidentally driving down highways and crossing bridges; significant fear you'll accidentally spend lots of money just clicking around.) Hard to say!
@eloquence @ceoln I also just encountered this when I signed-up for Post—mostly to park my handle. 10 minutes of scrolling, and a full page refresh to just read the rest of the intro paragraph isn't exactly a "dark pattern," but it's enough to stoke my distrust.
@eloquence @ceoln BUT MONEY IS GREAT WE ALL LOVE MONEY AND THIS WOULD BE A GREAT SLIDE IN A VC PITCH DECK—CHEESY STOCK ART, SHIP IT!
@ceoln
I think Musk had the right idea when he suggested getting past paywalls as part of a Twitter subscription - that could well have worked in pre-Musk Twitter, before he fired most everyone, started chewing on wires like a mad gerbil, posted a porn meme to lure Trump back, and turned himself into a hotline operator for nazis.
Flat subscription fees or ones with simple tiers generally work well -- see Netflix, Disney+, Spotify, Prime, etc. etc. Anything beyond that - doubtful.