tonybaldwin

Paypal doesn't know if you ship or not. I provide a service (translation) for which I am frequently paid via paypal, especially from foreign clients, and can receive several thousand dollars a month (not every month, but most, anyway) without shipping anything (just delivering documents via e-mail, which paypal doesn't see). They've made me a "premium member". I receive probably some 80% of my income via paypal.

Diaspora, which I am using and do like, is definitely not the only game in town for decentralized, federated social networking. Friendika is, in my opinion, more mature and has more features, better federation with other networks, and is also widely used, mostly in Europe and Brazil, but there are also "pods" based in the US and Canada. It's great stuff, and is even federated with Diaspora (the two networks see each other's sites as pods on their own network). Diaspora does seem to have gotten more press. I haven't quite figured that out, but it's likely due to their funding?