DECEMBER 2019 PCWorld 57Center. It all feels just a tad sleazy, like a
violation of one of the last ad-free spots on
your PC. Again, though, you have the option
of turning off ads entirely, or alternatively,
dialing them up to five per hour.
If you dial it down, however, you’ll likely
exhaust your BAT
storehouse of
accumulated funds
from ads—or worse,
never start
accumulating them at
all. And if you don’t,
that gives you even
less incentive to use
them to tip creators,
which is the
foundation of the
tit-for-tat reciprocity
relationship Brave is
trying to foster with its
browser.
Assuming you do buy in, though, you’ll
have some interesting options.
Probably the most frustrating, right now, is
the option to simply “tip” a site or person for
an outstanding tweet, article, or other post.
Clicking the small pyramid in the URL bar
brings up the site’s Brave Rewards status—
which, especially at this early stage, is
almost uniformly not verified, and therefore
can’t receive BAT. Yes, sites have to
officially buy into Brave’s vision to receive
compensation, which seems like a big ask
for a niche browser that blocks native
advertising by default.
Each tweet within Twitter’s site also has a
small Rewards pyramid next to it, too, but its
legions of oblivious tweeters aren’t signed
up, either. Tipping a work acquaintance 1Brave Rewards is part and parcel of the Brave browser experience.
This is what a Brave browser ad looks like as it slides in.