Flattr is a micropayment system, brought to you by the fine folks at The Pirate Bay, sort of as a moral proof-of-concept for a system that can work in a post-copyright world. Users select a monthly payment amount (minimum of 2 euros) that they can afford, then you “Flattr” other people who have bought into the system. Your Flattr monthly payments are shared among the people you Flattr. Think of it as a Socialist Internet Tip Jar. Pay what you can afford.

It sounds great in theory; the problem of course, is that it has not yet hit critical mass for it to work on a large scale. Most of the users are crazy open source people from Germany and Sweden. Most of the projects posted are not from English speakers and not a lot of people know about Flattr yet.

HOWEVER, right now for me I’ve actually just hit break-even. So, enough people are paying me money because they think I’m awesome for me to pay other people because I think they are awesome. I mean, I know I’m sort of a minor Internet Folk Hero, but hey. It actually works.

So anyway, it’s currently in an invite-only beta, but if you’d like to try it out, I’ve got 3 invites remaining. The first three comments get an invite. Comment, email me at gabe at signalnine dot net if I don’t have your email address already and I’ll hook you up.