Could writers expect a half decent residual on ad revenues over time?
Some cons that come to mind are that it would likely shape successful writers; successful in the sense of reward in DVCs; to write in a fashion that is search engine friendly and could possibly put a bias on the writing if the motivation was reward related.
If their share in ad revenues was perpetual then is it possible to see the same reward, or better, over time that may, now, be had in one time share splits?
Should witers expect a half decent residual on ad revenues over time? Or on generation shares?
There's already a bias - word count - so we're not starting from a position of neutrality. It's chicken and egg again. In the case of open source work I think effort should come before reward. That means it's down to programmers and writers (and musicians and artists?) to determine worth. Perhaps one way would be for each creative form earning base to be determined by all participants except those under assessment. At minimum it would give an interesting idea of foundational value, and would be an interesting study in (as you've put it) race to the bottom or race to the top. Testing game theory and underlying motivations.
An example of arse about tit are suggestions for charity donations motivated by potential for a price rise, not charity. Price derives from value. If those people want higher prices then they need to find ways to contribute/donate to open-source projects that add vale to devcoin. Bribery gains are generally transient and difficult to extricate oneself from.