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dlthomas comments on Anti-akrasia tool: like stickK.com for data nerds - Less Wrong
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Here's some discussion on google plus about that:
http://plus.google.com/100518216397474461708/posts/RkWR3LauY5X
And here's what I just added to the FAQ yesterday: (Do you think it addresses it sufficiently?)
Q: You make money from people failing at their goals?
A: Yes, but we make you fail less! We force you to toe the line at least for a while so that when/if you do fall off your yellow brick road then the motivation it provided up until that point still seems worth it. Everything we've worked on in building Beeminder has been with the objective of making people succeed and we'd have to be very myopic for it to be otherwise.
It's very important to us that no one ever lose on a technicality. We want to make money by making you more awesome, and we're convinced that's what's happening. But don't take our word for it. Try it and see. The first attempt is free [http://beeminder.com/money].
I don't mean to imply that you wouldn't still be providing something of value, or would be operating in bad faith. What concerns me is that this kind of setup means you can't afford to always have your users best interests at heart.
Consider one of your developers saying, "with this tweak, people will be 20% better at meeting their goals!" I'd love for you to add that feature, but it would be reducing the amount you take home. You very well may be high minded enough to add it anyway, but it's never a good situation to be in.
They could charge for access to the version with the tweak. "Premium Beeminder". With statistics to back up how much more effective it is.
Better, for sure. But it's hard to get those statistics without implementing it for a while, and it's a tough PR job to move something that was free behind a paywall...
"Congratulations, you've been selected to try a new feature that we're thinking of adding to Premium Beeminder, free for six months!"
Wow, thanks, Alicorn! That just made my much more convoluted reply moot. :)
One more way to possibly mitigate the incentive problem:
http://beeminder.uservoice.com/forums/3011-general/suggestions/2281088-choose-your-own-incentives-have-an-option-to-pay-
...which is also crazy for a business. Bear in mind that there is a reason that bookies offer 50-to-1 odds on people meeting their weight loss goals.
"Pay if I meet my goal" makes no sense economically or motivationally. It only sounds good to people who don't want to risk anything. If you want to do a non-punishing version, or let people use their own incentives when they fail, just charge a per-goal fee up front, or a time-based fee.
Hm, 50-to-1 is a bit of an exaggeration? It says "up to 50-to-1", and in the same paragraph, "bettors lose 80 percent of the time". Your point besides that stands, though.
What about some loose social pressure around that?
Like, a special donors list of "kept on track for 6 months and then donated", or merch you can buy after so long without slipping, or something... Make it an achievement, and let people pay for extra recognition of it.