A credit mechanism or system for use with a network-based application is described. The credit mechanism operates in conjunction with the network-based application to require that users pay a number of credits to interact with other users. The number of credits required to interact with a particular user may be determined using an algorithm that takes as input a number of signals that are inferred from observed data and which generally represent a measure of the particular user's willingness to provide time and attention (e.g., supply of attention), and a measure of the desire of other users to obtain the particular user's attention (e.g., demand for attention).
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