I have replied to the Paypal donators (but not the Bitcoiners, since they're unreachable) thanking them but I would also like to thank them publicly here: I get very little feedback on my writing aside from little numbers ticking upwards in Google Analytics, and am often plagued by doubts - are my writings any good? Are they usually confined in a ghetto? Are people going away laughing at my ignorance and amateurism? Will they contribute meaningfully to anything at all or just represent an indulgent waste of time and intellectual masturbation? So to see a few comments raise almost overnight ~$500 moves me.
> What's your day job?
Various things; as I say on http://www.gwern.net/Links#personal I sometimes write for people.
> Does your site make a significant amount of money?
No. I sometimes get donations, but not very much; they are all recorded in http://www.gwern.net/About#popularity if you're curious about specifics.
I recently added Google AdSense and Amazon affiliate linking because money was tight. These don't make very much either. Specifically:
- Google AdSense: $241 lifetime total (over 269k pageviews) - Amazon Affiliate: $59 total or ~$0.8 a day: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/85192141/2013-05-04-total...
> Why do you choose relative anonymity?
For the reasons I've said in the past. To which I can add personal safety: my Silk Road page is a bit questionable legally, and we all know that there are ways to exploit knowledge of one's True Name and address (even if, as far as I know, I have no enemies willing to resort to, say, 'swatting' me) - one group of stalkers called up a college they thought I worked at to see if they could get me fired or otherwise ruin my day.