I posted the following on glocalconversation.tribe.net a few days ago. That's where the idea came from. And there's a fairly lively discussion over there. But I think that more people than just the GC crowd might be interested. So, if you have an idea for a group-blog and want to recruit others to write for it. Post your request here.

(Note, I talk about benign dictators who the financial side of a group blog, but I'm not trying to get that role for myself. This isn't a spam :-) I just think that this is a cool idea that I want to see more of. Each blog-band will work out it's own constitution and whether it's commercial or not.)

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I'm wondering how a bunch of people who don't really know each other, are self-selecting, and with an indeterminate set of skills, can build trust and work together on a commercial project.

One thing strikes me as a possible low-commitment experiment : group blogging for dollars.

Here's how it would work :

* Start a group blog with a small number of contibutors.

* Put a Google Ad-words bar down the side.

* All members contribute links and stories

* Collect money for ads, and distribute it among members

Important points :

- No one is going to get rich. If it works out, there'll be a couple of dollars a month, max, for the contributors. If it doesn't, there'll be nothing.

- Your membership and right to participate depend on a minimum contribution. (Maybe 1 story + 3 quick links per week. If you don't meet this minimum you forfit your share of the money. Harsh, but easier than some kind of performance related scheme)

- There has to be a benign dictator. Someone who "owns" the blog and Ad-account, who takes responsibility for counting the contributions, collecting the money and forwarding it to the others. (Probably via PayPal)

- Some of the money can be donated to good causes, as the GC "pitch" suggests. But the precise constitutional details can be decided by the group members.

- Why should we be willing to trust this dictator? At first, we're just taking a bet. But the commitment and money will be so small that we can afford to take the risk - ie. contributing 4-5 stories and 12-15 links per month isn't a huge commitment (especially for regular Tribe posters :-), and the danger of losing up to 20 dollars probably isn't too offputting.

- Over a period of time, the group will probably shake itself out into those most commited to the theme and style of the blog and to the community. From there on in, they can probably plan other group projects. For example, maybe co-writing an eBook for sale through Amazon, co-writing software etc.

- Probably the ideal size for the group is between 5 and 10 contributors. (Above that, accounting gets more complex, and the dividend gets very small). If there are more people interested, they can divide among several blogs.

- These are probably not going to be personal and wide-ranging blogs. They should be focussed on a tighter, more ad friendly theme. So this is real "work".

OK, what do people think of this idea? Is anyone up for trying it? Anyone want to volunteer to be the benign dictator? Any good ideas for blog themes?