The direct cost is the web search api (custom search engine). Thousands (even tens of thousands) of searches per day racks up a huge bill.
The cost is funded by the @steemcleaners log posts. I'm not sure if there's a better way to do it, since if I ask people to vote for cheetah comments to directly fund her, they promptly forget a day later. :p
Humm. Are there any free or more cost effective custom search APIs? I know google does not offer theirs anymore but I have seen some workarounds - I am sure you know just where you lie on the landscape, just interested in similar bots myself.
I never knew custom search gets so expensive. Even google custom is pretty outrageous and limits 10k.
I am interested in finding some new funding methods for services like cheetah - she really does provide the best bot services on steem today.
Sadly no. I've looked. It is indeed outrageous. :(
Well the costs were news to me; I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for any sort of innovation on this front. Cheetah is my favorite bot here.
Well, I tend to give @cheetah an upvote when I encounter one of her comments... it's just a sort "community tip of the hat" thing for those who help run things behind the scenes. I guess I have just navigated too many oceans of spam to not appreciate the value she adds...
A regular analogy I use is the power being on. As humans, we take for granted whatever we are used to, and it doesn't cross our minds what it takes to keep things running the way they are -- 24/7.
But we certainly do notice when the lights go off, and THEN we ask where the maintenance men are.