Great, thanks Aaron, Bryan, and David for explanations.

I still like my ancient proposal for 1 cent per donor with a per donor
specified max so as to eliminate scariness of fractions of a cent and
seemingly (but I know, not really) unbounded liability, but where we are
now is great, should be much more easily explained.

Mike

On Sat, May 30, 2015 at 11:23 PM, Aaron Wolf <[email protected]> wrote:

> The new formula would be:
>
> Specify an amount you will pledge per patron.
>
> That's it. Minimum pledge is 0.1¢ per patron.
>
> In other words, there's barely even really something worth calling a
> formula any more. Your donation will be your pledge amount multiplied by
> the number of patrons. I'll probably deprecate the formula page on the
> wiki and keep it as just a more complex proposal we could choose to
> implement later if it seems to make sense or the community supports it.
>
> We will still need to determine the best design in terms of whether to
> *offer* an open-ended pledge or what suggested amounts to offer.
>
> The important factor would be that you count as a patron for the
> matching by pledging at least the minimum. As before, to be a full
> patron in good standing, such as right to join the co-op given patronage
> of the site, you will need to have actually donated during both of the
> past two months.
>
>
>
> On 05/30/2015 10:54 AM, Mike Linksvayer wrote:
> > I'm all for simplification and probably agree both shares and logarithms
> > make system harder to understand, but for clarity could you spell out
> > exactly what the new formula would be?
> >
> > Mike
> >
> > On Sat, May 30, 2015 at 10:36 AM, Aaron Wolf <[email protected]
> > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> >
> >     So, along with other folks in the community questioning things and
> >     thinking about design, I've continued to butt up against the
> complexity
> >     of explaining "shares" and what different pledge levels mean.
> >
> >     I don't think we should completely shy away from promoting new
> >     unfamiliar ideas, but we need to be able to be understandable. We
> need
> >     at least that if someone else takes the time to understand us well,
> they
> >     will generally be capable of explaining us effectively to others.
> And we
> >     need the interface to be understandable and clear.
> >
> >     There are two reasons that I wanted the whole logarithmic matching of
> >     extra "shares". 1. To avoid the awkwardness in someone realizing that
> >     they count double if they open two separate accounts (better to count
> >     them as extra when they pledge extra from the one account, although
> that
> >     *has* to taper so things aren't volatile and susceptible to dramatic
> >     manipulation). 2. To encourage people to pledge extra (although that
> was
> >     confusing given that we want people to understand the matching idea
> and
> >     not pledge higher than actually makes sense).
> >
> >     I found that the cleanest, clearest way to express pledging is:
> >
> >     "I pledge 0.1¢ per patron" or "I pledge 1.4¢ per patron" etc.
> >
> >     That brings to mind the image of thinking about all the other patrons
> >     and how you are connected to them and we are working together. We
> >     obviously show the total number of patrons.
> >
> >     Now, if your actual donation is different than your pledge amount *
> >     number of patrons, that's confusing. Abstracting it away to "shares"
> >     just makes it even more opaque.
> >
> >     It was a long process of pushing to keep the logarithm before I've
> come
> >     to accept that it makes sense to drop it. Without the extra
> matching, we
> >     have a simpler system, just a step or two removed from what people
> are
> >     already familiar with. It still will take some getting used to, but
> it
> >     will be *less* complexity in design, in coding, in presentation, etc.
> >     Everything will be more comfortable without it. There will be no
> >     logarithm to explain.
> >
> >     What about the two issues mentioned above?
> >
> >     Well, the one about duplicate accounts was speculative. We have other
> >     ways to discourage that, such as checking different financial
> >     information. Also, setting up an account is a bit too complex to
> easily
> >     duplicate. The worst case scenario of having some duplicate accounts
> >     isn't fatal. Maybe it's fine enough for someone to have a couple
> >     accounts which is almost like saying you sponsor your kid or neighbor
> >     and have an account in their name.
> >
> >     As for encouraging larger donations within reason: giving more still
> >     gives extra to the project, and it still is part of the network
> effect
> >     here in that it provides additional matching to others. The message
> is:
> >     "pledge more so that you provide even stronger incentive for others
> to
> >     come help (because you give that much more when they join)."
> >
> >     At any rate, we can always bring the logarithm back in. We're only
> >     prototyping at this point. Bringing it back after launch would be
> much
> >     harder but not impossible.
> >
> >     I think, realistically, dropping it will make our launch more
> successful
> >     and improve all our design and make everything easier and simpler
> with
> >     little loss.
> >
> >     Obviously, everyone is welcome to weigh in on this and share thoughts
> >     and concerns.
> >
> >     Cheers,
> >     Aaron
> >
> >     --
> >     Aaron Wolf Snowdrift.coop <https://snowdrift.coop>
> >     _______________________________________________
> >     Discuss mailing list
> >     [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
> >     http://lists.snowdrift.coop/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> >
> >
>
> --
> Aaron Wolf Snowdrift.coop <https://snowdrift.coop>
>
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