[karl42]

The creators are encouraged to create engaging/addicting/long content if that is what causes higher payments. Therefore, I much preferred the original Flattr where I defined which creator was beneficial to me.

I don't think that Flattr2 is more true to a free markets vision than Flattr1. Neither do I believe that a free market is necessarily better than a regulated market. Markets are a highly useful tool, not a goal themselves.

[BlueTemplar]

Hmm, good point, but since the extension is open source you could always have decided to disable that part, or even more importantly - reprogram it yourself to whatever definition and weights of engagement that you would like ?

https://github.com/search?q=flattr&type=repositories

(It's also out of control of the creators trying to artificially increase engagement by doing tricks with the Flattr 1.0 buttons on their websites.)

Apologies for linking to GitHub, but that's where the official repository is, so...