6 ms·

A little bit off topic, but this reminds me again of how much the web needs an easy payment system (as easy as in-app purchases in mobile). EFF, wikipedia, I o

A little bit off topic, but this reminds me again of how much the web needs an easy payment system (as easy as in-app purchases in mobile). EFF, wikipedia, I often see notices or news of things they're doing and think to myself that I should donate. But I'm usually in the middle of something and stopping everything to take out my wallet, get the CC, fill out a form, etc. is just too disruptive. So I try to remind myself to do it later, but then forget.

Xdes 13y ago
As Bitcoin expands its adoption this will become less of an issue.
- ForHackernews 13y ago
  Maybe. Doing anything with bitcoin today is a giant pain in the ass. Which is easier? a) Typing in a credit card number + billing address. b) - Signing up for an account at a Bitcoin exchange. - Transferring money to them (by doing a?) - Waiting for them to exchange it. - Transferring it to the recipients' wallet (this one step is kinda-easy, I'll grant) - Hoping the price of bitcoin holds stable-ish so that my bitcoins are still worth something when the recipient converts them back.
  - wyager 13y ago
    Way to make an unfair comparison. Replace a) with - Fulfill an arbitrary number of legal requirements - Sign up for an account at a bank - Transfer money to the bank (by doing a?) - Wait for the check/deposit to go through (hopefully neither you nor the bank fucked something up) - Put it in your debit/credit account (this one step is kinda-easy, I'll grant) The last thing about "Hoping the price holds stable" is irrelevant. The recipient can convert them immediately. A fair comparison is the act of paying with your (funded) credit card versus paying with your (funded) Bitcoin wallet. I can say from experience that the Bitcoin wallet is significantly easier in a lot of cases (and also carries less of a risk of getting skimmed or having a payment database hacked or something).
  - placeybordeaux 13y ago
    I personally just hold a certian amount of bitcoins and buy some more when I spend them. I used bitcoins to send openBSD some money, and was able to do that while boarding the subway. I personally am willing to risk 10 - 20% value to help establish a reasonable stability in BTC/USD exchanges. Once the exchange becomes more stable and nerdy people hold some amount of bitcoins the above problem is fixed, it's just that right now regulation and volitility are still a problem.
  - Xdes 13y ago
    The first 3 steps of b are mostly due to the legacy banking infrastructure. Once some Bitcoin banks are opened then those three steps will turn into: - Send Bitcoin from bank to recipients' wallet The last point won't be an issue once Bitcoin stabilizes after its growth phase.
drdeadringer 13y ago
The tagline for such a payment system should be "Let's not have another heartfelt message from Jimmy Wales".
vog 13y ago
Indeed, they should consider looking more at Europe, especially France and Germany. Their donation page seems to focus too much on US, Canada and seems to assume the rest of the world is happy with PayPal. Other organization provide all information for SEPA bank transfers on their donation page (e.g. http://www.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Donate/SEPA http://www.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Donate/SEPA), while the OpenBSD donation page just provides an email address that you should contact if you want to donate via a simple, plain bank transfer. That's kind of discouraging.
- tobiasu 13y ago
  Theo has a german bank account right here: http://www.openbsd.org/bank-donation.html http://www.openbsd.org/bank-donation.html
  - vog 13y ago
    I find it confusing that "OpenBSD" and "OpenBSD Foundation" have different donation sites. Nevertheless, being able to donate directly to these bank accounts is great!
- justin66 13y ago
  I think it makes a lot of sense that a project with OpenBSD's priorities does not publish its own bank information on the web.
danieldk 13y ago
Flattr was intended to provide easy microdonations: http://flattr.com/ http://flattr.com/ Unfortunately, when I was using it, there weren't many interesting FLOSS projects to contribute to. Perhaps things have gotten better.
- kybernetikos 13y ago
  I really like gittip https://www.gittip.com/ https://www.gittip.com/
livejamie 13y ago
Square Cash is pretty sweet, just send an email
incision 13y ago
EFF and Wikipedia both have prominent options to donate via Paypal. Wikipedia offers an Amazon option as well. Either of those are two clicks (choice and confirmation) plus authentication which is identical to my in-app experience. The biggest difference isn't about the process, but at what level a user has bought in to it - a payment shim from a particular provider or an ecosystem (Google / Apple). I wonder how folks would react if Chrome / Safari started popping up a button to allow a seamless donation through Wallet/iTunes whenever a page presented a PayPal link or a CC form?
- Karunamon 13y ago
  You should probably add "not run by an intolerable company" when speccing out a universal payment system. There are a number of people who absolutely refuse to touch paypal due to bad experiences or the bad experiences of someone else. Amazon less so, but in my experience, almost nobody takes them.
b3n 13y ago
They let you donate with Bitcoin, which for me is about two mouse clicks.

Xdes 13y ago

As Bitcoin expands its adoption this will become less of an issue.

ForHackernews 13y ago
Maybe. Doing anything with bitcoin today is a giant pain in the ass. Which is easier? a) Typing in a credit card number + billing address. b) - Signing up for an account at a Bitcoin exchange. - Transferring money to them (by doing a?) - Waiting for them to exchange it. - Transferring it to the recipients' wallet (this one step is kinda-easy, I'll grant) - Hoping the price of bitcoin holds stable-ish so that my bitcoins are still worth something when the recipient converts them back.
- wyager 13y ago
  Way to make an unfair comparison. Replace a) with - Fulfill an arbitrary number of legal requirements - Sign up for an account at a bank - Transfer money to the bank (by doing a?) - Wait for the check/deposit to go through (hopefully neither you nor the bank fucked something up) - Put it in your debit/credit account (this one step is kinda-easy, I'll grant) The last thing about "Hoping the price holds stable" is irrelevant. The recipient can convert them immediately. A fair comparison is the act of paying with your (funded) credit card versus paying with your (funded) Bitcoin wallet. I can say from experience that the Bitcoin wallet is significantly easier in a lot of cases (and also carries less of a risk of getting skimmed or having a payment database hacked or something).
- placeybordeaux 13y ago
  I personally just hold a certian amount of bitcoins and buy some more when I spend them. I used bitcoins to send openBSD some money, and was able to do that while boarding the subway. I personally am willing to risk 10 - 20% value to help establish a reasonable stability in BTC/USD exchanges. Once the exchange becomes more stable and nerdy people hold some amount of bitcoins the above problem is fixed, it's just that right now regulation and volitility are still a problem.
- Xdes 13y ago
  The first 3 steps of b are mostly due to the legacy banking infrastructure. Once some Bitcoin banks are opened then those three steps will turn into: - Send Bitcoin from bank to recipients' wallet The last point won't be an issue once Bitcoin stabilizes after its growth phase.

drdeadringer 13y ago

The tagline for such a payment system should be "Let's not have another heartfelt message from Jimmy Wales".

vog 13y ago

Indeed, they should consider looking more at Europe, especially France and Germany. Their donation page seems to focus too much on US, Canada and seems to assume the rest of the world is happy with PayPal. Other organization provide all information for SEPA bank transfers on their donation page (e.g. http://www.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Donate/SEPA http://www.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Donate/SEPA), while the OpenBSD donation page just provides an email address that you should contact if you want to donate via a simple, plain bank transfer. That's kind of discouraging.

tobiasu 13y ago
Theo has a german bank account right here: http://www.openbsd.org/bank-donation.html http://www.openbsd.org/bank-donation.html
- vog 13y ago
  I find it confusing that "OpenBSD" and "OpenBSD Foundation" have different donation sites. Nevertheless, being able to donate directly to these bank accounts is great!
justin66 13y ago
I think it makes a lot of sense that a project with OpenBSD's priorities does not publish its own bank information on the web.

danieldk 13y ago

Flattr was intended to provide easy microdonations: http://flattr.com/ http://flattr.com/ Unfortunately, when I was using it, there weren't many interesting FLOSS projects to contribute to. Perhaps things have gotten better.

kybernetikos 13y ago
I really like gittip https://www.gittip.com/ https://www.gittip.com/

livejamie 13y ago

Square Cash is pretty sweet, just send an email

incision 13y ago

EFF and Wikipedia both have prominent options to donate via Paypal. Wikipedia offers an Amazon option as well. Either of those are two clicks (choice and confirmation) plus authentication which is identical to my in-app experience. The biggest difference isn't about the process, but at what level a user has bought in to it - a payment shim from a particular provider or an ecosystem (Google / Apple). I wonder how folks would react if Chrome / Safari started popping up a button to allow a seamless donation through Wallet/iTunes whenever a page presented a PayPal link or a CC form?

Karunamon 13y ago
You should probably add "not run by an intolerable company" when speccing out a universal payment system. There are a number of people who absolutely refuse to touch paypal due to bad experiences or the bad experiences of someone else. Amazon less so, but in my experience, almost nobody takes them.

b3n 13y ago

They let you donate with Bitcoin, which for me is about two mouse clicks.