@dansup looking at your profile I already see verification checkmarks for your pixelfed, GitHub, and website links. Adding a way to vary that checkmark to indicate paid support, or just to customize and give hosts the option to charge a fee for customization, could be a nice way for supporters to make that public that would be hard to fake

@dansup maybe go with an individual suppprters wall? "Paid verification" almost always leads to grifts & scams, so you'd need to pair it with identity verification or fancy reputational damages.

(I'm slowly actually working on age & identity verification for those that want it)

Maybe use some symbol other than a blue checkmark? That just has too many negative associations at this point.

@dansup

@dansup @anildash I like Signal’s method of showing a badge for supporters but not calling it “verification.” The latter implies or implied, at least, some process to confirm a person is who they say they are.

@dansup if you provide a “verification” of some sort, what liability could it create for you/PixelFed?

I’m happily a monthly supporter right now, and I’m neutral on some sort of identity marking THAT, specifically, but “verification” implies something you have to be able to back, that the user is who they say they are, that they are trusted somehow, or have shared some key info. There are legal and privacy implications, and a management workflow needed, at the least.

@dansup NO

@dansup I would like not the "verification" but just the ability to get the visual "App Support Badge" next to your profile. And it must be available and possible to pay through other clients if their devs want to implement the feature and not only main Pixelfed client

@dansup I think it makes more sense to offer more capabilities to paid users (like, more server space, higher image quality, etc) than a "verified" account, but that's my opinion only.

@dansup How would it work? Do you mean a hard coded list of project paid donors?

@dansup Something you need to sort now before users get used to it being free & noting other comments definitely not something to copy straight from Space Karen. Not a fan of bluechecks! Other options:

1) Notional fee for annual app big update or initial purchase for iOS/Android app
2) Donation message after every 25,50 or 100 photo uploads
3) Tier usage on .social, large collection users to pay for using service

Also your future plans, is this a hobby or do you want it to be main job/income?

@dansup depends on what you want pixelfed to be.

You could do federated identity verification. Check marks could be issued by admins but not cross server lines unless explicitly allowed by other servers.

I trust people on my instance more than random servers. But I'd trust my admin to tell me if admins of other instances are similarly trustworthy.

@dansup no, verification is a safety and trust feature that
1. Already has a good implementation on Mastodon
2. Should not be put behind a paywall

If you're looking into monetization features, I suggest you explore the "cosmetic" route.
I'd happily pay for an extra badge on my profile like a heart or rocket emoji (@signalapp) or other kind of avatar decoration (Discord).

@dansup I would also go with a supporters badge like @signalapp and do appreciate website verification like Mastodon.

@dansup how would you implement such a verification process? Most of the time I would assume it to be a GDPR nightmare. Maybe something like a supporter badge?

Because I link my pixelfed account from my main account here on mastodon and this verifies via my website so verification ist't something that is interesting for me.

@dansup I’m not a fan of this for three reasons:
Being centralised goes against the very nature of the fediverse and leaves it open to bad actors.
There’s already a successful verification system as used by Mastodon. At the very least it will cause confusion.
These paid verification systems don’t really verify you only show that you’ve paid.

@dansup
I think a custom supporter badge that is specific to Pixelfed would be a great way to support the system.
But a blue check or anything else would feel really "bad". Twitter is a cesspool, Pixelfed is happiness, work on that custom branding.
You could do the same for the other apps, make each one custom to the platform (loops, sup, etc).

@dansup As a business model, it sounds like a good approach! As a user, built in domain verification tools already tell me that a user is really who they say. So rather than a "verification" badge, you might consider calling it a "supporter" badge or something like that. Meta is doing something similar.

@dansup Rather than a central authority, couldn't it be possible to create a mutual certification? Each user would indicate which account they trust, and each user would see on an account whether there's a chain of trust from them to this account.
It's a bit like what LinkedIn does when they show how far someone is from you (direct connexion, connexion of a connexion or 3+), but with a voluntary step.

This would be closer to the decentralized philosophy of the fediverse.

But no way to monetize this.

@dansup

Better that than VC #Enshittification.

Or even have storage quotas and/or require unpaid accounts to have disappearing posts.

I'd much rather pay for the service, then see it go rogue against the community's interests and welfare.

@dansup

I am all for ethical monetization to support the long term viability of the project. The trick is to do it with methods that match the values of the project. Something that centralizes and de-anonymizes users is utterly antithetical to the values of decentralization and privacy.

I would suggest instead that you approach hosting companies to do deals where you refer people to them for a recurring commission thereafter, and they provide a set quality, pre-set up Pixelfed package.