It was not long after I got my first Internet connection that I first thought to myself "Wouldn't it be cool if I could get paid for all this?" At the time, I was very absorbed in the process of writing lots of emails, and I had recently discovered forums, message boards and other sites with "user-generated content."
At the time-- around 1996-- there really wasn't much action in the writing online industry. The whole idea of "micropayments" was brand-new, and most of the pundits of the day were scoffing at the idea of users being PAID for their contributions. In fact, many people were still offended by the whole idea that the Internet was a commercial venue. I never could quite wrap myself around that idea... after all, the servers, and the people who put information online, the software driving it all... those things didn't just appear out of the goodness of someone's heart. SOMEthing had to buy them, drive them, and pay for their maintenance.
