I just turned off the funding experiment.
We won't be implementing this as a funding model, which is probably not a surprise at this point. However, IMO the experiment was worthwhile, and at the very least, it helped us to learn a thing or two about what we want, and what we don't.
We haven't crunched the numbers to determine the movement of bits across the userbase, but of 700,000 bits, 228310 of them ended up in the Hubski account.
As a user that did not start with any bits, I donated a total of 3325, and had 46 left to give. I was on vacation for much of this time, however.
Personally speaking, I was surprised how quickly I forgot about the experiment, and how as a result it had almost no influence upon my behavior. Although that might be considered a good thing if one is concerned about the influence of money upon site activity, a funding model that no one remembers is probably not going to be a successful one.
What we have agreed upon, is that a basic donation model is something that most people want to see, and that it should exist, even if other mechanisms are implemented. We are working on setting that up at the moment.
That said, feel free to share your thoughts regarding the experiment. Did it play out as you expected? Did it influence your behavior?
I ended up with 1.9000000000001 bits at the end and couldn't get rid of that last one because it wasn't a whole number. I'm calling the manager this is some real shit.
ETA
arguewithatree's donations
bits to available to donate: 1.9100000000000001 bits total donated to Hubski: 1663.0 bits
total donated to users: 1663.0 bits
I ended with 865.5 bits, and donated zero bits. Mostly because the default was zero bits, and I never changed it. Kinda like organ donation. If it's opt-in, most people don't donate their organs. If it's opt-out, most people do donate their organs. That's because most people don't care either way or can't be bothered to change anything, so they stick with whatever the default option is. I bet some people never even noticed at any point that there was a donation experiment going on, and ended up with bits. Also, I never donated because the mechanism wasn't clear to me. I donate automatically by... dotting a comment or a post? Who gave me bits? Why did they give me bits? What caused a user to decide I was worthy of bits? Were bits just haphazardly thrown around like confetti and I got some stuck in my hair? If I'm saving my bits to donate to great posts, should I set the donation amount to zero normally, then when I see a great post, go to my donation settings, change it for that one post, dot the post, and then set it back to zero? Too much work if I want to donate the way I want to donate. Easier to just leave it alone. What if I want to keep my bits? Can I cash out? What if I'm struggling to make a living and every bit counts? I feel like a heel if I'm taking bits away from Hubski, because ultimately you guys want to receive that money eventually. Simplplzkthx. :/
kleinbl00's donations bits to available to donate: 21267.45 bits total donated to Hubski: 11450.0 bits total donated to users: 11450.0 bits
donation settings bits donated per share (0 to 3500): 50
percent of donation given to Hubski (0 to 100): 50 You tell me. What did we learn? I think that the raw math on that says I "generated" like 9000 bits but as simple as your model is, the economics are giving me a headache.
Yay for interactions... But if one person has their donation set for 8500 bits, it's not so impressive. Unless 500 people have theirs set for 1 bit.
Thing is: you're monetizing performance and tying it to an arbitrary metric. You couldn't have designed a more despiriting approach if you tried.
I pretended it was real money, and as a result I became much more careful about what I shared, and wanted to save it.
I didn't donate because I didn't understand what the bits represented. I didn't have an accurate idea of what it all meant, so I did nothing in order to have the least influence on the results as possible.
_refugee_'s donations bits to available to donate: 36578.96 bits total donated to Hubski: 0 bits total donated to users: 0 bits I felt that no matter what I did, my actions would be impacted by the fact that I knew this was an experiment. So I did nothing. My two courses of action that I considered were either, give it all to Hubski in one fell circledot (which I see on revisiting, wouldn't quite have worked) or give it all to somebody else. I was a shellfish. However now I donate it all to Hubski.
At some point I happened to be looking at my user page and noticed that I had bits, which surprised me. I thought the experiment was limited to those who started with bits. I tweaked my settings to donate whatever percentage and then forgot about the experiment entirely until I saw this post. As someone who mostly lurks, occasionally comments and rarely posts the experiment wasn't as relevant to me as it might have been to others. To me, the donation model makes the most sense if for no other reason than KISS.
I started with 35000 or whatever. insomniasexx's donations bits to available to donate: 164.55 bits total donated to Hubski: 7522.5 bits total donated to users: 30037.5 bits donation settings bits donated per share (0 to 3500): 250 percent of donation given to Hubski (0 to 100): 20 About 2 or 3 days in, I upped it from like 50 to 250. That said, it took quite a bit of voting to get rid of them. Every time I came back I had more.
Man I wish you took paypal. Despite being an ecomm lawyer I am not smart enough to do bitcoin. I would donate in a minute if I could.
yellowoftops's donations bits to available to donate: 38142.44 bits
total donated to Hubski: 1070.0 bits
total donated to users: 1070.0 bits donation settings
bits donated per share (0 to 3500): 20
percent of donation given to Hubski (0 to 100): 50 I started with 35,000 bits. I ended with 38,142.44. I gave away 2140, which means I gained 5282.44. Neat.
...I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I never wanted to give away money as any sort of show of appreciation in the first place, because money were used to buy me in the house I grew up in. Thus, I never considered it or used it. All the bits I've accumulated - still no idea how - are still on my account, and if it would make any difference, I'd give it all away to whoever needs it most. I didn't come here for donations: I came here to have good conversations. I'd rather get my money through honest labor.
BrainBurner's donations bits available to donate: 201.9 bits total donated to Hubski: 26340.75 bits total donated to users: 8780.25 bits I constantly kept my ratio at 75% hubski, 25% users. I upped my bpb (bits per boop) from 2 to 100 to 500 to 1000 over the course of the experiment. I figured I might as well get rid of all these bits since I had them. I burned through all my bits towards the end but ended up earning another 200ish that I didn't bother spending. I found I was a bit stingier with my boops, knowing there was "real" value behind them. I personally support this funding model, I would like to dump 10 bucks in every once in awhile and send it off into the Hubski sphere. Alas...
I just set "percent donation to Hubski" to 100% and made some arbitrary threshold of bits (I randomly chose 175) to give per share. As time approaches infinity, the amount of bits I donate to Hubski approaches all of the bits I've ever had. I'm just trying to give you guys some money, and you sold yourself short by a huge margin when I do the math. I'm just estimating on order of magnitude, and I'd say that I would have just donated a factor of 1000-ish more money annually than what I'm projecting from my bit movements. I lurk a lot.
Meriadoc's donations bits to available to donate: 31082.05 bits total donated to Hubski: 2700.0 bits total donated to users: 2700.0 bits I was away a good bit during this time as well. As much as I quickly forgot about it, looking at my patterns it did drastically affect my interaction with the site quickly. I immediately was more hesitant in sharing something. I didn't think it would stay that way after a day or two, but it seemed to remain, subconsciously. Additionally, how did I end up with so many bits?!
Isherwood's donations
bits to available to donate: 14758.75 bits total donated to Hubski: 6350.0 bits
total donated to users: 6350.0 bits I kept fluctuating the number of bits I donated. I get caught up in experiments and I kept trying new things like going really low and voting on a lot, going really high and voting on a little, going really high and voting on a lot. Before I left for my break I really just wanted to get rid of them. I cranked up my settings and dumped my bits into anything that seem remotely enjoyable.
psychoticmilkman's donations bits to available to donate: 3455.4 bits total donated to Hubski: 28614.0 bits total donated to users: 3226.0 bits
donation settings bits donated per share: 200 percent of donation given to Hubski: 90 I wouldn't vote for a system that earns users money for posting. I feel like contributing in hopes for honest discussion should be the best motivation for using the site. I acted as I would have if the system was real. The majority of my bits donated went straight to Hubski. I believe I shared more things that I would have, knowing I was donating the money I had theoretically added to my account. Glad to hear a donate button is coming, that's what I really want.
thenewgreen's donations
bits to available to donate: 14496.51 bits total donated to Hubski: 13345.0 bits
total donated to users: 13345.0 bits
donation settings
bits donated per share (0 to 3500):
percent of donation given to Hubski (0 to 100): 50