[OpenID] Japan Report 2008-12-13

[Mike Kirkwood]

Hi,

Yes, you're right that it's not so clear that voting itself the right value proposition.

But if voting was one feature of the service, another good value for the money you pay to entrust the provider of the stack.

Millions of users have voices and a few dollars too.

If the providers implement stack, suggesting some part comes back directly to foundation.

Tie exact number of users to revenue.   500m satisfied users, $500m budget.   17 satisfied users, $17 budget.

Too simple, but intent is tie these together and the motivation of the board is clear (who is accountable).

--Mike
________________________________________
From: SitG Admin [sysadmin at shadowsinthegarden.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2008 1:43 AM
To: Mike Kirkwood
Cc: general at openid.net
Subject: Re: [OpenID] Japan Report 2008-12-13

>Interesting to think how the elections would work if every person
>who had an OpenID voted.

Several million users lacking the technical knowledge to understand
OpenID's issues, probably following the trends or advertising laid
out by the media and/or their corporate sponsors. Their votes could
trivially be cast by the corporation that supplied them.

>And if every person that used it, paid $1 to the foundation for the
>privilege to vote and be a part of it.

Votes are only a dollar apiece? You don't even need to be a rich
corporation to steal elections! (Just outspend the honest ones, or
buy votes subtly enough that noone notices.) Or everyone so inclined
can fight it out, lining the Foundation's pockets.

What are we paying for with a membership, exactly? How are we paying
for votes? These can be two separate questions - voting might be
earned in some kind of meritocracy, at the risk of losing control
over the Foundation if OpenID takes off so strongly that previously
uninterested third parties suddenly out-perform everyone who was
doing this before! A strong competitive atmosphere fostering OpenID's
development, though.

-Shade