Re: What is annoying in the flattr buttons?
Hi Raphael
On 10/11/2010 14:45, Raphael Hertzog wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Nov 2010, Holger Levsen wrote:
>> since a while, we see unsolicted commercial links and images on planet, mostly
>> about flattr.
>
> So it's now clear that this thread is only about flattr buttons. Quite a few
> people explained that they are (at varying level) annoyed by them. I would
> like to know _why_ those buttons annoy them.
>
> To get a clear feedback I'd like to setup a poll (with selectricity.org)
> so that people who have chosen to put those buttons can decide what to do
> (or not).
>
> It's going to be a condorcet-based poll where you have to rank the
> following statements: I'm annoyed by Flattr buttons because
> * The picture catches the attention too much in a post which contains
> only text.
> * The picture allows Flattr to gather statistics about me.
> * Debian contributors should not make money from posts syndicated on
> planet.
> * I believe Flattr is a bad micro-donation system and it should not be
> promoted.
> * The button indirectly promotes a service run by a private company
> unrelated to Debian.
<snip>
>
> Are those sentences correctly representing your concerns? Are there other
> concerns to add?
I'm not a Debian Developer, but I'm an avid follower of Planet Debian (I
read *everything*) and the Debian Project itself.
I think all of the above reasons are valid reasons to be annoyed by the
flattr icons. I'd add that some posters might in some way try to 'guilt'
readers into flattr'ing them, as in "I went through all this effort in
writing this post and I need money badly so you should really click on
my flattr button!". There are many more subtle versions of that, but for
me personally I find that one of the most annoying things about it.
Having said that, I do see the 'fun' behind it. It's another tool to see
what users like, what they might want to see more of. And it must be
interesting measuring contributions over periods and whether people
enjoy your posts more or less than before. I can see why many people
would want to use it without even being interested in the few dollars it
generates. Imho this is one of those areas where exploring all the
shades of grey in between could be useful.
-Jonathan
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