Right, not every product needs to satisfy the needs of everyone. This kind of messaging works well to get get small amounts out of a lot of people.

there's a difference between getting people to say _right now i need you all to "buy me a coffee"_ and getting the same people to buy you a coffee on a repeated basis.

I need help now != support my ongoing work on x

my point being, that it's irrelevant that William got $2500 fast. the question is how many people on the platform have been able to earn anything more than just a random occasional tip on it? Is anyone getting even "poverty level" worth of donations (~12k in the US because our gov't has no concept of how much things cost).

You'll be surprised.

Meet Jo Qatana. A small-time embroidery artist who's making ends meet with BuyMeACoffee. She's one such creator who's receiving donations from her audience on a regular basis.

"Thanks to the Generosity of Strangers, and Friends, I've made a car insurance payment and can finally buy the supplies I need for my @PPact fundraising item. I am So Very Grateful." - https://twitter.com/joqatana/status/951943659301187584

'Buy Me A Coffee' is just a friendly way to ask for support, and do not suggest the size or consistency of support one could receive. Contributions very well depend on one's audience and creativity.

I'm a bit late to the party, I just wanted to say how much more appealing this type of donation request is vs wikipedia's extreme guilt trip of "if 1% of people who viewed this page in the next 5 minutes donated a dollar, [..]"

Now that's what I call caffeine overdose!

Haha, he sure got his audience worried: https://twitter.com/williamlegate/status/968635631596269569

buymeaLOTofcoffee.com?