Affero, a patronage/donation site. This is a well-done version of an idea I’ve been also trying to get off the ground. The personnel behind the people look competent. I need to investigate this site more, but the problem with the execution, I believe, is that they didn’t try to provide content. They just tried to put up a DB-backed membership site and hoped that people would sign up. Actually, this site describes its members better than it describes content. And in fact we already have established tipjars via paypal or amazon not to need another one. They work extremely well.
The site does a good job of listing members and donors. But who cares about that really? There’s no real draw about this site except that it lets you tip or provide positive feedback. This kind of site should be easy to browse and find interesting works. Somehow, it never seemed to occur to the site owners to focus on the content instead of the membership/directory aspects of the idea.
I have gone on record as saying that this kind of idea is doable, and once it gains momentum, people will take it for granted. This site perhaps tried too early and with too little focus on content. (I actually face the opposite problem: focusing on content, to the exclusion of revenue possibilities).