I'm sorry if you interpreted my comment as nothing else than snarky. Truth be told, I want app.net to succeed, but as pretty much one of its target members (young, vaguely hip, and I love reading tech blogs) I still haven't found the answer to the following question:
What advantage does app.net have over the mainstream options if I don't care about privacy/'dickishness' and how is that worth $50 to me?
I really hope my parent comment wasn't snarky (or at least it was not intended to be) and I totally agree with you on HN stink and the like.
Though I think you misunderstand daltons focus. You say it isnt about "what gives them revenue" but actually that's exactly what it is. The only difference is he is not taking it from the developers, advertisers or selling data but directly from the user. That is not focusing on the user for me. That's raising revenue from the user.
The reason I want app.net to succeed is because I want to live in a world where facebook is free (so everyone i know is on it) but I can choose to pay them $50 (or any reasonable amount) per year so I dont see ads and they don't sell my data. I want to be able to interact with people who don't want to pay $50 per year, otherwise its just a walled garden like every other.
If a startup raise a massive amount of funding with no revenue model, a lot of people here scream bubble.
Now you have a startup that has a revenue model and not seeking additional funding, people still keep leaving snarky comments.
There is a big difference if a company makes money from users vs advertisers.
Companies focus on what gives them revenue and I'm excited to see what App.Net can create if they focus just on the users.