[guidoism]

That's similar to the idea I had for combating texting spam: - If your number is in my address book then texts are free for you - If this is the first time you are contacting me then you pay me $1

There are probably downsides and ways this will screw up real relationships but it will certainly increase the cost of spam.

[Nition]

One issue I can forsee:

- Every contractor (plumber etc) you hire will ask you to please add them to your contact list first so that they can message you.

- After a while of half their clients not doing that and lots of fees on their end, contractors stop providing a phone number at all, asking you to please install ContractorApp to communicate with them.

[thejazzman]

I love every part of this. Not having things in writing is one of the most common tactics with bad contractors. And I miss their call backs because I have unknowns goto spam, so I have to remember to disable that feature...

[GoblinSlayer]

Here they do already use watsapp, viber etc for communication, maybe because they are cheaper.

>Every contractor (plumber etc) you hire will ask you to please add them to your contact list first so that they can message you.

This is reasonable. If they want to reach me, they should whitelist in advance instead of hoping they can randomly get through.

[crummy]

Maybe when you first receive a text you see:

This message is from an unknown number. (Accept / Block / Charge sender $1)

[zeroonetwothree]

They already charge $200 so I doubt $1 extra is going to matter.

[asah]

one click to add from the first message = $1 total cost.

contractors can add this to their invoices if they care.

[jameshart]

You just made the new scam ‘persuading you to text me’. I get $1 for everyone I fool!

[odo1242]

Presumably the money would go to the telecom company, I think. Still very good for trolls though.