In Defense of the $8 Checkmark

Elon Musk finally went through with it. He bought Twitter last week, effectively taking the world's most interesting social media network private.

His first initiative followed quickly. He launched a new Pay-to-Play verification system. Going forward, it will cost $8 to become verified, which gives you a blue checkmark by your name and also…

You will also get:
- Priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam
- Ability to post long video & audio
- Half as many ads

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022

Most folks have been colossally turned off by Musk's plan. I think most Twitter users have this sense that the Internet should be free, and that success on Twitter should come from one’s relative talent at building a following. Of course, neither of these things have ever been precisely true. For one thing, as noted in a Tweet that Musk himself just retweeted…

Let's remember that @elonmusk charging $8 for premium Twitter experience means Twitter becomes the product again, instead of you.

And if $8 is too much, you're free to remain as the product.

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) November 1, 2022

Erik Voorhees may or may not be one of the biggest assholes in the world -- honestly, I have literally no idea who he is, but I mistrust people that Musk likes on general principles -- but in this case, he's not wrong. Moreover, Musk promises to put a separate distinguishing mark below the names of legitimate public figures to denote them separately from pure Pay-to-Pay verified users. 

So... this thing may or may not have any value as an actual verification system. It seems more like a straightforward financial transaction. But really, who knows?

Anyway. I joked after the fact that As For Football was gonna have to go looking for a sponsor for our blue checkmark soon. However, one of our Patrons messaged me the next day to say that he would totally sponsor our checkmark. He believes in what we're doing and wants to help us grow the business. This is why he's our Patron.

My sense is that Twitter might not survive a genuine Pay-to-Play system, not because it's not valuable or even good in some ways, but because people want the illusion of importance that the current model provides. Which is to that for the vast majority of users tweeting most of the time, NO ONE CARES. However, the current model allows for the illusion that someone might care, and that illusion provides the current model with most of its value. 

Still, current fame, fortune, or notoriety already bring massive advantages on Twitter, hence the quest by lots of marginal public figures to spend lots of time chasing that illusory blue check. That check verifies that someone cares, which in turn signals to other people that they maybe ought to care, too.

Success begets success, forever, amen.

The early Internet promised a free exchange of ideas ungoverned by publishing gatekeepers. That was fun for awhile, but ironically, we probably could really use a few actual gatekeepers in the modern era. As it is, there is tons and tons and TONS of crap out there. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to charge a nominal fee for people who care enough to buy one. If nothing else, this ought to help keep some of the shitposters out of our lives. No one's gonna pay $8/month if they're not selling something that someone might buy. I mean, $8 is kind of a nominal fee, but it raises the threshold immeasurably if all you want is to watch the world burn. And really, who needs those people cluttering the public discourse?

Back before the Internet, you went to conventions and put your stuff out on little pamphlets or in miniature 'zines. This was time-honored tradition in the comic book community but frowned upon in a lot of other spaces. Still, quality tended to be way higher in independent spaces back then. Among other things, you had to really care a lot to put something out on actual paper because putting it on paper wasn't remotely free. I myself started a little company newspaper as a cadet for Company E-1, and I later started Proletariat Comics and went to the first New York City Comic Con to put out pamphlets for Bronx Angel: Politics By Another Method. Some of that stuff was good and some of it has become cringe-worthy, but all of it was more carefully considered than, say, this blog post because we had to actually print it and somehow get it physically out to the world. That challenge by itself created a truly massive barrier to entry, which in retrospect, I kind of miss.

With all of this in mind, maybe we should take my friend up on his offer to sponsor AFF's blue check. If nothing else, that check shows that we -- and others -- believe in what we're saying enough to actually put a little money behind it. This has some actual value, both to us and to those who're looking for content like ours, whether they know it or not.