Private Message Subscriptions

Story so far

Announced in The Second-to-Last Message as 'a new and exciting feature': for a small fee, all viewers may now subscribe to a crawler's private messages with other crawlers. Isn't that great? Sign-ups started the day before the announcement, the system is very pleased with how many have already joined up, and the system goes live the moment the message ends.

The implication is not spelled out for the crawlers and does not need to be. Every private channel Carl has been using to coordinate the floor — the chats with Elle McGib, Imani C, Daniel Bautista, the dozen-plus station contacts — is now a paid product, and the audience was allowed to buy in a day before anyone was told.

Appearance

A billing feature, described in the tone of a streaming platform adding a tier.

Role

The monetisation of crawler privacy — and the quiet end of any assumption that a private message is private.

Relationships