Allvoices, which is operating on $4.5 million in funding from Vantage Point Venture Partners, has started paying its most popular reporters. They can earn anywhere from 25 cents to $2 per thousand page views.

Contributors are free to post almost anything. Credibility is rated by people who read postings and by the in-house algorithm, which is designed to help measure postings against traditional media and other sources.

But throwing the site open to the public has its pitfalls. One recent post with a high credibility rating said the Ark of The Covenant was about to be unveiled. Other stories cite no sources, anathema in traditional journalism.

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