Follow the recipient and the purpose
A useful funding explanation says who receives value and what it pays for. In Bigfoot, credits for network service, value directed to contributors, and the protocol support fee serve different purposes. They should not be treated as one undifferentiated pool.
Network credits account for qualifying work or contributions. Who is credited depends on the assignment and settlement rules. Tips and other content support direct existing BFT to the relevant contributors.
The protocol support fee
Soliton Group LLC maintains the Bigfoot protocol and official software and currently receives the entire protocol support fee. The current rate, recipient and published changes belong in Bigfoot Governance, which is the public reference for those facts.
This fee is an explicit part of the economic arrangement. It should be understood alongside the charge presented before an action is authorized, rather than inferred from a general promise that the network is free to use.
Governance membership is a volunteer role
Network governance members are volunteers and receive no share of the protocol support fee. Their role concerns appointments and other duties granted by the protocol. Governance membership is not a seat on the corporate board of Soliton Group LLC or ownership of the company.
A person may separately qualify for another network role. Any BFT credited for work in that role is distinct from being paid a share of the protocol fee for governance membership.
Advertising and incentives
An advertising business makes money by creating opportunities to show advertisements. Bigfoot’s intended model instead funds shared work and protocol maintenance through the network’s disclosed accounting rules. Bigfoot does not plan to sell or insert its own advertising into the browser.
Participants can publish promotional material on a public network. That does not make it advertising sold by Soliton Group LLC. Readers should still evaluate the source and purpose of what they see, including information published by Soliton Group LLC itself.