Failing that affiliate and ad networks and maybe microfinancing like patreon are the only things to get something out of micropublishing.
Doesn’t seem fair.
How would it actually solve it in a way that previous attempts at pay-per-read microtransactions haven’t?
What the fuck does Bitcoin have to do with it?
Keep in mind that the majority of browsers (Safari and Chrome) have built in payment mechanisms already.
Then there is "Bitcoin" the idea. You can see the start of it in the initial paper: "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution." [1] This is the techno-libertarian ideal of a perfect, stateless financial system that magically solves all financial problems
So Bitcoin-the-idea has everything to do with any money-related problem. Even though Bitcoin-the-reality is in fact not helpful for this. As the idea and the real thing diverge, it becomes more obvious that a large number of Bitcoin-the-idea adherents are essentially religious in their behaviors. (There's another, much smaller segment for whom the idea is something they are working toward. You can tell them because they will distinguish between present and (imagined) future.)
Unfortunately, the Church of Bitcoin attendees welcome questions like your about as much as parents welcome people saying that Santa doesn't exist. So thanks for speaking up and asking blunt questions like this despite the flack I'm sure you get.
Previous poster was using it as an example of a medium for exchange used with micropayments.
Also, bitcoin has been completely incapable of doing micropayments for a long time.
How does it work? You want to publish an ad, you go directly to the publisher. You design the ad for the paper or the magazine. It looks good and works for everyone involved.
Web ads, however, are a complete anti-pattern. I imagine that the advertisers and the publishers can save themselves a lot of money and goodwill if they directly work together like they do in print.