I’m icked out by a lot of marketing things (see my snarktacular description of our cyber monday deal) but @anomalily convinced me that this need not be icky, as long as it’s always disclosed, of course.
If people feel that offsetting the derailments dampens the sting, as @grayson speculates, we could stick with Option 1 (earning a premium plan). But I actually don’t think that sharing Beeminder revenue should harm the incentives. Are you harming the incentives if you offset a costly derailment by spending extra time at your day job? Helping evangelize Beeminder is real work and we want to share the spoils of it!
It’s actually ironic because I find a lot of things businesses do much ickier than most people but I find money less icky than anyone else I know. And that includes actual economists. 