I generally don’t care for what Godin has to say, but he makes a good point here (maybe not a good point, but one that isn’t made often enough). Metafilter does this brilliantly: It costs $5 to be a member, which is not enough that anyone can’t join, but high enough that it keeps out the junk. It’s no accident it’s one of the most active and highest quality community websites out there.
Seth’s Blog: If Craigslist cost $1
(via heyitsnoah)This reminds me of my idea that I pitch that everyone thinks I’m joking about (I’m not), which is an email system where you pay $X to send a message to a particular person, and that money guarantees that said person will actually read/act/respond to your message. How does it work? It’s only based on the honor system/guilt on the part of the receiving party, but hell, I know if someone paid even, like, $2 to ensure that i responded to their message, I’d feel way too guilty to just let it slip by (unlike the tens of hundreds of emails that most of us let blow past every month).
