5 ms·

I am a proud free user. When a service closes because of bankruptcy, a new one always appears. Or maybe two or three. So who cares? There's always a free alter

I am a proud free user. When a service closes because of bankruptcy, a new one always appears. Or maybe two or three. So who cares? There's always a free alternative to every service, especially web ones.

devoply 10y ago
Thank you Mr. Locust, that will do.
- aub3bhat 10y ago
  Its not predatory but rather a symbiotic relationship. Customer/Users, Organizations (Management/Investors), Employees all are inter dependent on each other a view of the world that devotes attention to one of the three groups is misguided.
- gilrain 10y ago
  A workable analogy only if farmers were actually clamoring to market their fields to locusts.
  - devoply 10y ago
    I was referring to this: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/04/03/the-locust-economy/ http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/04/03/the-locust-economy/
    - gilrain 10y ago
      Ah! Thanks.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- Michie 10y ago
  @devoply, I think the best term to describe akjainaj is a parasite. A parasite is an organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense. Based from his response here, I think he is just a troll.
  - devoply 10y ago
    He has a point, consumer psychology is set up this way. As entrepreneurs we have to understand it and deal with it.
    - akjainaj 10y ago
      Most businesses of all sectors use all kinds of techniques to maximise consumption from customers, some of them very shady. Billions are poured into behavioural studies of customers and voodoo tricks so people spend money on stuff sometimes they don't even need. As a customer, I feel entitled to take advantage of everything I can. I don't understand the negativity around it. Us consumers have a salary each month, and we are supposed to get everything we can out of it. It's that simple.
      - fapjacks 10y ago
        Absolutely this. Businesses have honed to great effect their ability to extract money from people. It's just the yang of capitalism that people extract as much as possible from businesses at the lowest price possible (or free).
  - akjainaj 10y ago
    I don't see how I'm trolling here. For example, I run Spotify with an ad blocker, so I don't have to pay for it. And years ago, when they limited the amount of minutes of music you could listen to every month, I made tons of accounts to bypass that limitation. Why? Because, in the unlikely case they go out of business, by then some other service would've appeared, run by someone who thinks he won't commit the same mistakes the owners of the previous service made. Common sense says my system of abandoning/taking services is not sustainable in the long term, but by now it hasn't failed me. And I'm also sure a sizable percent of people do the same I do. Am I a troll just because I'm open about it?
    - sireat 10y ago
      You do have a point, shipping 50lbs of pet food for free was not sustainable for pets.com in 2000 but one could hardly fault customers for taking advantage of such foolishness. Let's set aside any moral/ethical implications of ab/using free services for a moment. The problem for you as a customer is that once the service closes it might take some time to find a new service. Second, your time is valuable too. Making multiple free accounts to save $10 a month is an activity which might make perfect sense for a poor college student but would draw comparisons with Mr. Burns if you are a middle-aged high wage earner. It took a while for amazon.com to get into pet food business. When del.icio.us became slow and uncared for it took some time for me to find pinboard .

devoply 10y ago

Thank you Mr. Locust, that will do.

aub3bhat 10y ago
Its not predatory but rather a symbiotic relationship. Customer/Users, Organizations (Management/Investors), Employees all are inter dependent on each other a view of the world that devotes attention to one of the three groups is misguided.
gilrain 10y ago
A workable analogy only if farmers were actually clamoring to market their fields to locusts.
- devoply 10y ago
  I was referring to this: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/04/03/the-locust-economy/ http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/04/03/the-locust-economy/
  - gilrain 10y ago
    Ah! Thanks.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Michie 10y ago
@devoply, I think the best term to describe akjainaj is a parasite. A parasite is an organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense. Based from his response here, I think he is just a troll.
- devoply 10y ago
  He has a point, consumer psychology is set up this way. As entrepreneurs we have to understand it and deal with it.
  - akjainaj 10y ago
    Most businesses of all sectors use all kinds of techniques to maximise consumption from customers, some of them very shady. Billions are poured into behavioural studies of customers and voodoo tricks so people spend money on stuff sometimes they don't even need. As a customer, I feel entitled to take advantage of everything I can. I don't understand the negativity around it. Us consumers have a salary each month, and we are supposed to get everything we can out of it. It's that simple.
    - fapjacks 10y ago
      Absolutely this. Businesses have honed to great effect their ability to extract money from people. It's just the yang of capitalism that people extract as much as possible from businesses at the lowest price possible (or free).
- akjainaj 10y ago
  I don't see how I'm trolling here. For example, I run Spotify with an ad blocker, so I don't have to pay for it. And years ago, when they limited the amount of minutes of music you could listen to every month, I made tons of accounts to bypass that limitation. Why? Because, in the unlikely case they go out of business, by then some other service would've appeared, run by someone who thinks he won't commit the same mistakes the owners of the previous service made. Common sense says my system of abandoning/taking services is not sustainable in the long term, but by now it hasn't failed me. And I'm also sure a sizable percent of people do the same I do. Am I a troll just because I'm open about it?
  - sireat 10y ago
    You do have a point, shipping 50lbs of pet food for free was not sustainable for pets.com in 2000 but one could hardly fault customers for taking advantage of such foolishness. Let's set aside any moral/ethical implications of ab/using free services for a moment. The problem for you as a customer is that once the service closes it might take some time to find a new service. Second, your time is valuable too. Making multiple free accounts to save $10 a month is an activity which might make perfect sense for a poor college student but would draw comparisons with Mr. Burns if you are a middle-aged high wage earner. It took a while for amazon.com to get into pet food business. When del.icio.us became slow and uncared for it took some time for me to find pinboard .