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Comment by varispeed | Hacker News Reader

I wish there was a service I could simply pay for using, enough so that the operator wouldn't have to use invasive advertising where I could connect with other people who would want my services or vice-versa. Why such a simple thing seems to be not possible? Everyone looks to be only motivated by $$$ and turning potential customers into product. I also don't understand why should I value a network where the main selling point is zero-cost ad-free. If people on there don't want to pay for something that brings them value, are they going to want to pay me for my services? This is so contradictory. What's the goal here?

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>I wish there was a service I could simply pay for using, enough so that the operator wouldn't have to use invasive advertising where I could connect with other people who would want my services or vice-versa.

There are a lot of services that you can pay to use. The problem with social networks (which this is) is that though you are willing to pay, others are not, and social networks are worthless without the 'network' part.

I don't mind being on a network without people who don't want to pay for it. Not sure why is that an issue?

>I don't mind being on a network without people who don't want to pay for it.

OK. Either this is a missed opportunity to satisfy a market need, or there is no market for that kind of social network.

Agree, that the messaging can be improved. However, for now it's easier to state "zero cost" than to use "revenue sharing."

Also, at this time, the service is zero cost. We are launching so that people might interact with the service and provide the type of feedback you are giving us. Any startup is, in many ways, a giant experiment.

We are looking at many different revenue models. However, we will not go with the traditional model we see today, where "we" are the product. We feel just as strongly about that as you do.

We are confident that better revenue models exist, that can support our service, without spying on our members, selling out their personal information or placing arbitrary monthly fees that are inconsistent with the value provided.

Not to "hate" on LinkedIn, but we are interested to explore other ways to build a marketplace that makes it easy for buyers and sellers to interact.

Fully agree. Unfortunately, the networks that are built for pay are basically seeking extortionist-level payouts. One, which started out on a freemium model to connect makers and designers, seemed pretty good, the free plan did ok, and the others were tempting if I needed more. Then, somethign changed, and they reworked their site, and expected to take something like a 30% cut of all business done through link-ups made there. That might work for a few small one-off jobs where the total is small, but anything where you might work together for a competitive bid, their 30% cut demand will just force the cost right through the roof. So, nevermind now....

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