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0 pointsrlalwani6y ago0 comments

Being able to monetize for quality content is one of the main purposes of this experiment. For our content as well as other people's content in future. I don't understand why content creators have to give away the content for free and "beg" for donations on Patreon. We will allow them to combine the two. There in-app purchases help quite a bit even though we end up losing 10-25% to the app stores.

There are some other reasons related to user experience. We can do a bit more in an app than what we can do in a browser e.g. push notifications for new titles and more control over UI. Also, I feel people like apps because people like to put things in "buckets" mentally.

But you are right - if/when we get some traction, we will provide a full-fledged platform on the Web also. People can choose where they want to read. Thanks for your thoughts.

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drivingmenuts6y ago· 1 in thread

Why would you need Patreon? You an just as easily sell subs to a website. Push notifications can be handled from server side and UI control is a matter of some careful CSS and JS.

Matter of fact, you can build a responsive site that looks and feels like an app on mobile and behaves like a site on desktop with one codebase.

I’m not against apps, per se, but I do think they are totally unnecessary when duplicating behavior that is just as easily achieved in a browser. Plus, the browser means you can push updates once and everyone gets them, as opposed to an app where it’s piecemeal.

rlalwaniOP6y ago

I hear you. I am not a big fan of apps either - web is based on open standards and decentralized. But micropayments are a problem on the web. In-app purchases do work. Push notifications do matter. If you are right about the web, how do you explain the rise of apps? Gmail, Facebook, Instagram could easily be web-based but their app versions are far more popular. I think you raise a good point though. I am afraid I don't have all the answers but I do see some reasons as I mentioned earlier.

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