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Meme: paypal skzbrust $2-$5
As some of you may know, I am a strong proponent of how it should be easy for people to give other people money (immediately or at a distance) without guilt involved, whether there are products or services provided for that money, or if it is just a sign of appreciation for some experience they've provided, either directly or through their art.
I would like to see a world where public art provides a routing mechanism through which people can financially support the artist directly, even in micropayments, and where books provide a similar mechanism for people to send money back to the publisher and author(s) - even if they are not buying the book new, but are merely borrowing it or have bought it used.
In the meantime we have paypal - when paypal first came around, we all had high hopes that it would be a good answer to person-to-person financial transactions, and for people who have personal paypal accounts tied to bank accounts, it does provide a way to exchange money at a distance without the fees and interest rate bother of credit cards (in fact, now Paypal pays me interest on the money I keep in my paypal account) or the requirement that one of the people in the transaction must be a business. But all the world didn't buy into this concept, and so paypal started accepting credit card payments as well, and the credit card companies charge fees, and therefore so does paypal, for upgraded accounts that accept credit card payments.
And there is also now a stigma associated with putting a paypal donation button on your website -- I don't know where this came from, but I was talking to a local political candidate about it and she said something about how taking paypal seemed somehow lower class, or something (that's really not what she said, but the gist of it was that paypal is a sort of shabby secondhand beggars tool, as opposed to high class donation tool). I refuse to accept that! I have encouraged any organization I support to accept paypal - I asked Planned Parenthood Online why on earth they do not and I got an email just recently saying they will soon. You don't have to qualify for a line of credit to use paypal, you just have to be able to open a bank account (I do suggest using something other than your primary bank account)-for those who have access to the internet, it is in fact more accessible to have a paypal account than a credit card.
So despite the fees for upgraded accounts, I support the idea that everyone should get a paypal account, and especially that everyone who is an artist -- sculptor, singer, author, etc., in our society should be both technically and philosophically prepared to accept funds this way. Because we ought to support our artists, and not just through Buying Stuff.
So the long and the short of this overly long statement is that I'd like people to help me convince at least one creative friend of mine to do this: the author Steven Brust. He's balking on principles that are admirable by the value system he grew up in, but which I think are outdated and wrong. His email address is skzb -@- dreamcafe.com (take out the spaces and the dashes to use as an email address). If you have a paypal account, please paypal![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
skzbrust some small amount of money - but at least $2 - and see if we can't convince him to get a paypal account and get set up to accept donations.
I would like to see a world where public art provides a routing mechanism through which people can financially support the artist directly, even in micropayments, and where books provide a similar mechanism for people to send money back to the publisher and author(s) - even if they are not buying the book new, but are merely borrowing it or have bought it used.
In the meantime we have paypal - when paypal first came around, we all had high hopes that it would be a good answer to person-to-person financial transactions, and for people who have personal paypal accounts tied to bank accounts, it does provide a way to exchange money at a distance without the fees and interest rate bother of credit cards (in fact, now Paypal pays me interest on the money I keep in my paypal account) or the requirement that one of the people in the transaction must be a business. But all the world didn't buy into this concept, and so paypal started accepting credit card payments as well, and the credit card companies charge fees, and therefore so does paypal, for upgraded accounts that accept credit card payments.
And there is also now a stigma associated with putting a paypal donation button on your website -- I don't know where this came from, but I was talking to a local political candidate about it and she said something about how taking paypal seemed somehow lower class, or something (that's really not what she said, but the gist of it was that paypal is a sort of shabby secondhand beggars tool, as opposed to high class donation tool). I refuse to accept that! I have encouraged any organization I support to accept paypal - I asked Planned Parenthood Online why on earth they do not and I got an email just recently saying they will soon. You don't have to qualify for a line of credit to use paypal, you just have to be able to open a bank account (I do suggest using something other than your primary bank account)-for those who have access to the internet, it is in fact more accessible to have a paypal account than a credit card.
So despite the fees for upgraded accounts, I support the idea that everyone should get a paypal account, and especially that everyone who is an artist -- sculptor, singer, author, etc., in our society should be both technically and philosophically prepared to accept funds this way. Because we ought to support our artists, and not just through Buying Stuff.
So the long and the short of this overly long statement is that I'd like people to help me convince at least one creative friend of mine to do this: the author Steven Brust. He's balking on principles that are admirable by the value system he grew up in, but which I think are outdated and wrong. His email address is skzb -@- dreamcafe.com (take out the spaces and the dashes to use as an email address). If you have a paypal account, please paypal
skzbrust some small amount of money - but at least $2 - and see if we can't convince him to get a paypal account and get set up to accept donations.
Re: Money, money
Can't, can you?
I'm not a business. Even if you had a credit card number you had memorized, I can't take it from you and process it.
However, if you had a paypal account, you could do this. I can ask someone in another state to send me something, and I can pay him in advance, right now, in less than 30 seconds, and I can do it even though I'm sitting at a computer with my wallet out of reach. If I had it set up, I could do it using my cell phone. This is a huge part of how and why ebay got started and actually worked. Paypal provided person-to-person instant remote payment.
Paypal has been around for about a decade. If you truly only heard of it a few months ago I'm astounded. Probably you heard of it years ago but it since slipped your mind, but then again, maybe not, since you've never spent a really large portion of your time online.
And, btw, I'm not saying that it is so prevalent: in fact, I'm saying the opposite - that the fact that it isn't as prevalent as it should be is what has lead to the use fees that people hate - fees no more burdensome than the fees that businesses pay credit card companies, but which are more visible since they are part of the transaction or account cost. paypal transactions between people who have deposited money into their paypal account from a bank account and have kept a basic account to do so have no such fees.
Re: paying twice, what about if a friend loans you something, or you borrow it from the library? You've read it, and you don't want to buy it. Maybe you can't even afford the cover price of the books, if it's rare and hardcover. But you can still send something to the author or publisher if we have electronic payments.
In this electronic age, what if someone emailed you the book? Getting a copy might be as easy as that! Then how do you support the author?
Re: Money, money
(Anonymous) 2006-07-08 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)OK, artists are special in that art is under appreciated, but so is programming (which can also be an art) and I don't see tons of "donate" buttons for them. It's true that there are plenty of "starving artists" out there and I support the Arts by buying their works. Soon, the Ann Arbor Art Fair will be rolling around. Should every vendor/artist there accept donations? More to the point, should I/we pony up for every artist we like but can't afford, just to help him/her make ends meet?
It sounds like he isn't getting a lot of royalties. Since he is fairly well read, I assume a lot of people have borrowed, bought used, been given or stolen his work to read it. Is this donation thing supposed to mitigate these situations?
Part of this rant is just Devil's Advocacy, but I'd really be interested in some of the answers.
Bob