5 ms·

another example that there is not enough work to go around is that if you go into any downtown anywhere in the world at 7 pm to 8 p.m. you will see people drink

another example that there is not enough work to go around is that if you go into any downtown anywhere in the world at 7 pm to 8 p.m. you will see people drinking beer in bars. These same people could still be working, since there is no reason they shouldn't be in an office, factory, etc, for a full 14-hour workday. Clearly there is just not enough work to go around, which manifests itself as people sitting around drinking or going on fun Internet sleuthing that nobody would mistake for work. (well, except that one guy.)

YesThatTom2 9y ago
Children are the same way. All that time they spend playing could be spent in a factory making sneakers.
- mcphage 9y ago
  I don't know about your kids, but mine would make some shitty sneakers :-)
  - dsfyu404ed 9y ago
    They'll be fine after a few days of training.
sp332 9y ago
I'm not arguing from first principles here. Workforce participation is down. This is just a symptom. I'm not against having free time, but against companies who ask you to work for them for free. If people had the ability to make money with their time and effort, that guy would be more likely to be paid for his post.
- jcarreiro 9y ago
  So if HN added advertising to support the site, you would totally stop posting here, right?
  - sp332 9y ago
    Not unless I could find a place that would pay better for my posts.
- beaconstudios 9y ago
  SE provides a venue for these types of discussions, and in exchange does a small amount of advertising to make the venture profitable. How is that exploitative in any sense of the word? Do you have the same attitude towards social clubs that charge fees?
  - sp332 9y ago
    I don't go to SE for the "venue". I usually get there via a Google search, which means the only draw is the content. And hopefully Google would give me the same info if it were on any other site that paid their writers.
    - beaconstudios 9y ago
      you don't go for the venue, but others do - the asker and the answerer who generated the content in the first place. You're just getting the benefit of their exchange due to SE's existence. I don't understand why you have an issue with SE hosting content in exchange for permission to advertise on it. I have to pay amazon/digitalocean to host my content - if it costs something for a host to provide it then they can either make the money back somehow or constantly lose money.
      - sp332 9y ago
        But the only thing SE has to offer is other people's content. And I don't have a problem with them making money, but with not sharing any with the people who are the reason the site gets money. They're not even middlemen who take a cut, they're getting 100% of the revenue.
        beaconstudios 9y ago
        but that implies that content is the only valuable thing, and distribution and hosting are negligible. If anything, it's the other way around - content is abundant and quality distribution is the hard problem. That's the reason the marketing industry is one of the largest around. If people want to try to make money from their Q&As they can post them on their own site and either charge for access or advertise, but then they'll need to market it to get revenue so then they become like an SE but only for their own content and they'll make very little money anyway. That's basically the position of a professional blogger and very few of those make any real money.
- gozur88 9y ago
  The implicit assumption here is the only reason people don't spend 100% of their time working is the inability to find an employer.
  - sp332 9y ago
    No, I'm saying people are less likely to work for free when they can find work that pays instead. Seeing lots of people do work for free is a symptom that lots of people are underemployed.
    - gozur88 9y ago
      Only because you've classified every activity as "work". People have hobbies where they do things purely for entertainment.
jnty 9y ago
People write all sorts of nonsense for newspapers and get paid for it. Just because you personally don't value some labour doesn't mean it's not valuable labour.
blueside 9y ago
> if go into any downtown anywhere in the world at 7 pm to 8 p.m. you will see people drinking beer in bars. Those people are still working, they just don't know it

YesThatTom2 9y ago

Children are the same way. All that time they spend playing could be spent in a factory making sneakers.

mcphage 9y ago
I don't know about your kids, but mine would make some shitty sneakers :-)
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago
  They'll be fine after a few days of training.

sp332 9y ago

I'm not arguing from first principles here. Workforce participation is down. This is just a symptom. I'm not against having free time, but against companies who ask you to work for them for free. If people had the ability to make money with their time and effort, that guy would be more likely to be paid for his post.

jcarreiro 9y ago
So if HN added advertising to support the site, you would totally stop posting here, right?
- sp332 9y ago
  Not unless I could find a place that would pay better for my posts.
beaconstudios 9y ago
SE provides a venue for these types of discussions, and in exchange does a small amount of advertising to make the venture profitable. How is that exploitative in any sense of the word? Do you have the same attitude towards social clubs that charge fees?
- sp332 9y ago
  I don't go to SE for the "venue". I usually get there via a Google search, which means the only draw is the content. And hopefully Google would give me the same info if it were on any other site that paid their writers.
  - beaconstudios 9y ago
    you don't go for the venue, but others do - the asker and the answerer who generated the content in the first place. You're just getting the benefit of their exchange due to SE's existence. I don't understand why you have an issue with SE hosting content in exchange for permission to advertise on it. I have to pay amazon/digitalocean to host my content - if it costs something for a host to provide it then they can either make the money back somehow or constantly lose money.
    - sp332 9y ago
      But the only thing SE has to offer is other people's content. And I don't have a problem with them making money, but with not sharing any with the people who are the reason the site gets money. They're not even middlemen who take a cut, they're getting 100% of the revenue.
      - beaconstudios 9y ago
        but that implies that content is the only valuable thing, and distribution and hosting are negligible. If anything, it's the other way around - content is abundant and quality distribution is the hard problem. That's the reason the marketing industry is one of the largest around. If people want to try to make money from their Q&As they can post them on their own site and either charge for access or advertise, but then they'll need to market it to get revenue so then they become like an SE but only for their own content and they'll make very little money anyway. That's basically the position of a professional blogger and very few of those make any real money.
gozur88 9y ago
The implicit assumption here is the only reason people don't spend 100% of their time working is the inability to find an employer.
- sp332 9y ago
  No, I'm saying people are less likely to work for free when they can find work that pays instead. Seeing lots of people do work for free is a symptom that lots of people are underemployed.
  - gozur88 9y ago
    Only because you've classified every activity as "work". People have hobbies where they do things purely for entertainment.

jnty 9y ago

People write all sorts of nonsense for newspapers and get paid for it. Just because you personally don't value some labour doesn't mean it's not valuable labour.

blueside 9y ago

> if go into any downtown anywhere in the world at 7 pm to 8 p.m. you will see people drinking beer in bars. Those people are still working, they just don't know it