Google getting into micropayments, If they make it work it could be good news for people who fill the internet with good content and don't believe ads are the solution.

What do you think?

Hello fellow DC members. I've been working my butt off to make a complete overhaul of the perform function of mIRC.

For those who do not know, mIRC is an IRC client. IRC is a way to chat on the internet with others. DonationCoder has an IRC chat room, check here for more details:
https://www.donation...6.0%3Bprev_next=prev

"Perform" in mIRC is essentially just a list of commands that are ran when you connect to an IRC server.

PowerSchemeToggler

1) Unpack archive to a folder of your choice.

2) Run PowerSchemeToggler.exe and you'll be presented with a small interface
   that will allow you to choose two profiles to toggle between.  Click the
   "Save and exit" button when done.
   
3) Run PowerSchemeToggler.exe with the -toggle parameter to toggle between
   your chosen schemes.

Neat article on designing voting/ranking algorithms:

Many web sites allow users to casts vote on items. These visitors' votes are then often used to detect the items' "popularity" and hence rank the rated items accordingly.

And when "rank" comes into play things gets tricky:

• The system can have inherent deficiencies in ranking items.
• That is mostly because developers tend to "re-invent the wheel" and throw in their own algorithms instead of basing their calculations on well-established statistical formulae
• (I'll come to that in a moment, just bear with me ).
• There will be people (i.e. spammers) trying to fool the system and try to take their submissions to top.
• There will be system inefficiencies due to computational complexity.

In this article,  I'll try to give examples on how to approach the problem; describe the weakness of each particular approach; and explain how some well-known social community sites implement their ranking algorithms..

http://blog.linkibol...can-be-Proud-of.aspx

http://www.1p2u.com/...itle=What_is_1p2U%3F

Glyn writes that maybe the reason so many micropayment systems have failed in the past is "a matter of implementation rather than any deep flaw with idea itself." Seems that banks and payment processors like PayPal can kill just about micropayment system before it gets off the ground due to high transaction fees. And since we agree that a place like DonationCoder.com is well worth supporting, I'm curious for your response to 1p2U's idea of creating a revenue mechanism that doesn’t rely upon copyright (or patent):

-- It lets your readers pay you to write your blog!
-- It's a little widget you put on your blog
-- It lets your readers become paying subscribers.
-- Subscribers pay you a penny for each article you write.

Here are some details from the FAQ:
Why would anyone pay me?
Your readers want to encourage you to write!
If you write, they pay. If you don't write, they don't pay.
If you write well they continue subscribing, if poorly, they stop.
Your readers are your new publisher, paying you for your writing.

How does it work?
You register your blog's RSS feed with 1p2U and put the widget on your blog.
1p2U monitors your feed and has a record of your 1p2U subscribers.
1p is due to you from each subscriber each time a new item appears in your feed.
Readers become your 1p2U subscribers by clicking on the 1p2U widget.

Where's my money?
Your subscribers can pay their dues whenever they want - if at all.
As soon as they do pay, you can start withdrawing your earnings.
Your other readers are unaffected and still read your blog without paying you a penny.
You are not charging people to read your words. You are letting people pay you to write them.

What's in it for 1p2U?
1p2U makes money the same way you do.
If you want to encourage the improvement of 1p2U you can subscribe to the 1p2U blog that publishes details of each improvement.
1p2U does not charge commission, does not insert 3rd party advertising, and does not spam or sell e-mail addresses.
1p2U is a project of Digital Productions and uses its Contingency Market web service.

.......................................
Crosbie Fitch is a UK chap who writes a very informed blog on copyright, digital data issues, intellectual monopolies, and other things. Worth checking out.