this page proposes a new revenue model for information sources. as i see it, this new model makes the most sense when applied to wiki formats or scientific journals, and less so when applied to breaking news. but particularly, i think this is an important and necessary component of building *sustainable* wiki systems as part of a [[PIVOT TO WIKI]]. when it comes to journalism, many people have pointed out that high-quality sources are often paywalled, while bullshit is free to access. and the stats show that a minority pay for news, and NOBODY pays to get around a paywall if they're not already subscribed to a source. > [!quote] > The vast majority of Americans (83%) say they have _not_ paid for news in the past year, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in March. Another 17% say they have directly paid or given money to a news source by subscribing, donating or becoming a member during that time.... > ...Just 1% say they pay for access when they come across an article that requires payment. > ^[https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/06/24/few-americans-pay-for-news-when-they-encounter-paywalls/] this clearly seems to me like an impediment to an informed society. but simply removing all paywalls can't be the answer, since journalists have to eat. and excessive advertisements are a shitty experience. how can we keep people informed while also making sure journalists get paid to produce the necessary information? how do we prevent AI bot scrapers from eating the internet? my proposal is what i call the **bounty model**. how it works: - each article using the bounty model is **fully unavailable to anyone** until enough users contribute toward its bounty. - the bounty can be paid either directly through $ or through digital vouchers. - once the bounty is met, the article is **freely available to everyone** without any paywalls. - because the article is fully unavailable, not just paywalled to subscribers, it means that neither pirating sites nor AI scraper bots can undermine an article's revenue. - vouchers: sites should have a variety of subscription tiers available and/or a variety of vouchers available for direct purchase. these vouchers would be worth some multiple of $ depending on the tier. - let's make up some numbers *(these are just example numbers off the top of my head)*. let's say the standard article bounty is **$1,000**. then, let's say you have these subscription tiers, each providing the same number of vouchers per month: - **Basic Tier**. $5/month, Basic Vouchers. Basic Vouchers cost $7 bought directly. **Basic Vouchers are worth $10 when applied to a bounty**. that means, if you pay the bounty directly, $5 is worth $5, no savings, but buy a voucher, then $5 becomes $7, and buy a subscription, then $5 becomes $10! something like that. - **Silver Tier.** Silver Tier costs $7/month, you get Silver Vouchers. Silver Vouchers can be bought directly for $10, and are worth $20 when applied to a bounty. - **Ultra Mega Deluxe Tier**. Ultra Mega Deluxe tier costs $100 per year, is only available as a yearly subscription, and provides Ultra Mega Deluxe Vouchers which are worth $500 per bounty and which you can't buy directly. subscription only. you may recognize this sort of pricing scheme as functionally identical to the microtransactions and virtual currencies and battle passes which power many live-service video games nowadays, such as Apex Legends, Overwatch 2, or Fortnite: yes! those are very successful and i think importing their revenue models could benefit us all. to be clear, before you get mad at me, bounty levels should consider multiple factors, such as the time/effort used to produce the article, the newsiness & urgency of the topic, etc. breaking news tidbits shouldn't have bounties (and honestly i think the incentives would punish outlets for inappropriately priced bounties as sources would go elsewhere). generally, "news" should be freely available, and bounty gates should be used to fund things like wiki pages, explainers, in-depth reporting / analysis, and other long-form writing. i think the bounty model is necessary for sustainable wiki systems under a [[PIVOT TO WIKI]] because the quality that makes them valuable is how they exist outside the attention economy, but that same quality works against them when it comes to driving subscriptions or donations. wikis can't drive traffic with flashy headlines like "WE UPDATED THIS TABLE OF POPULATION METRICS IN US CITIES!! CLICK NOW!!!" for obvious reasons. the bounty system could also massively improve efficiency at media outlets. if you put up a bounty before actually writing an article, the willingness of people to fulfill the bounty and the speed at which they do it would tell you a lot about what people are interested in. if you tease an outline on a certain long-form piece but nobody is interested in contributing to the bounty, then maybe you just don't bother actually writing out the whole thing and wasting those hours.