Introducing Readme: A Revolution in Content Creation and Monetization

In the digital age, information is a powerful currency. However, the traditional models of content creation and monetization have often sidelined the very creators and curators who are the backbone of the digital content ecosystem. Enter Readme - a groundbreaking decentralized encyclopedia that is set to redefine the norms of content generation, moderation, and revenue distribution.

The Current State of Monetization in Digital Content

Presently, the monetization of digital content is predominantly centralized. This structure often results in a significant portion of the revenue generated by content going to platform owners and advertisers, rather than the creators themselves. This imbalance stems from the disproportionate influence and control these entities have, leading to a system where creators and moderators, despite being integral, are frequently undercompensated. Moreover, the lack of transparency in these traditional systems frequently raises questions about fairness and the equitable distribution of revenue.

Readme: Pioneering a New Era

Readme is not just a platform; it's a paradigm shift. It stands out by offering a decentralized, transparent, and fair model for content creation and monetization. Here's how Readme is changing the game:

1. The platform is built for everyone passionate about writing high-quality content.

2. Incentivizes decentralized content moderation by rewarding readers, ensuring Readme remains a reliable knowledge source.

3. Promotes fair rewards distribution: Users earn for article views post-moderation and ad placements.

4. Prioritizes quality over influence, enabling creators without a wide social media audience to earn for their content.

5. Focused on increasing crypto and blockchain awareness, Readme aims to become a leading Web3 academy, aggregating comprehensive knowledge from strategies and guides to protocol reviews.

6. Community-owned: $READ holders own and govern the Readme platform.

The Critical Role of Moderation in Readme

Moderation is the linchpin in the Readme ecosystem. Far from being a mere procedural step, it is pivotal to ensuring content quality and relevance. By leveraging a community-based moderation system, Readme guarantees that quality content gets the spotlight it deserves. This approach not only aids creators in gaining rightful recognition and rewards but also instills a sense of ownership and communal responsibility among users.

How does it work?

Authors

Authors are individuals who publish articles on the Readme platform.

• To post an article, authors are required to hold a certain amount of $READ tokens.

• Each publication involves paying a small amount of their $READ tokens.

• This process aims to ensure that creators contribute only high-quality, valuable content to the platform.

• Upon submission, each article undergoes an automatic plagiarism check. Articles with less than 70% uniqueness are not further published on the platform.

• Following this, the article is placed in the Sandbox for community moderation.

Moderators

Moderators are regular users tasked with ensuring that content posted by authors, initially available in the Sandbox, is helpful and trustworthy. Registration simply requires connecting a wallet, after which users receive 20 Karma points to vote on articles they deem useful and of high quality.

• Once an article is published in the Sandbox, community members are encouraged to read and upvote articles they support, costing them 1 Karma point per vote.

• Voting is only available during the first 48 hours after an article's publication.

• Each day, an algorithm identifies the top articles based on the most upvotes relative to the total number of readers in the Sandbox. These top articles are then promoted to the main section of the platform. In cases of equal upvote numbers, all such articles are promoted. This mechanism is subject to future changes and improvements for increased fairness and to mitigate potential Sybil attacks.

• After being posted in the main section, articles earn payouts based on reader counts. Moderators who voted for the article receive an additional 2 Karma points each.

Payouts

Rewards on the Readme platform are not only for content creators but also for moderators.

• When a moderator votes for an article, they expend 1 point of Karma, effectively delegating their trust to the author.

• Once the article is published in the main section of the platform, both the Author and the Moderators who voted for it begin to receive payouts.

• These payouts come from three sources: article reads, link clicks, and ad placements.

• For reads, the Readme algorithm uses multiple factors to minimize risks of fake engagement and Sybil attacks, including visit length and user activity heatmap, among other factors, to discern fake activity. Payouts are made only for organic, natural reads.

• For link clicks, adding links to valuable sources within the Readme platform is recommended, similar to Wikipedia and other educational sources, to increase user retention. If a reader clicks on a link that leads them to another article on the platform and reads that article, they receive a fraction of the payout for that session from the referred article.

• For ad placements, such as banner ads, users receive 50% of the cost paid by the advertiser for each ad display. For instance, if an advertiser pays 10 cents for each ad show, 5 cents are distributed to the Author and the Moderators who promoted the article.

• Rewards for article reads and link clicks are accrued in the platform's native token, $READ, while the rewards for ad placements are paid in stablecoins.

Post-moderation

Articles not passing initial moderator voting aren't necessarily discarded. If such articles attract reader attention, evidenced by high reading stats, indicating quality, value, or a unique perspective, they can be automatically promoted to the main section. In these instances, the author receives 100% of the allocated rewards for their articles.

Why do we build Readme?

Readme, reflecting the team's extensive media industry background, focuses on active SEO usage, quality moderation, and deep incentivization to drive rapid growth. Recognizing the importance of a high reputation score on search platforms like Google, Readme is designed to achieve impressive results quickly.

As it gains influence, authors' articles will draw organic traffic from search engines, increasing advertiser interest. This shift will allow for a reduction in token incentives as authors' stablecoin income from ads rises. This approach is aimed at balancing the platform's token economy while maintaining competitive author payouts, attracting Web2 users and expanding Readme's knowledge domains.

Furthermore, Readme is designed to support emerging content creators in building and expanding their audience, without the initial need to by a reply guy. In its later stages, the platform plans to introduce an AI content assistant to aid authors in enhancing their articles, focusing on SEO, grammar, and phrasing.

Readme aims to enable content creators and readers to build, own, and govern their media platform, presenting a clear alternative to the centralized Web2 media industry.

Are you ready to join?

Stay tuned for the upcoming $READ fair launch planned for early January 2024.

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