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I upvoted this comment and it went back to grey immediately, and I wonder how the people voting this comment down are want to explain themselves, what counter-a

by dvtrn 7y ago

I upvoted this comment and it went back to grey immediately, and I wonder how the people voting this comment down are want to explain themselves, what counter-arguments they care to offer and what their motivations are because the Facebook currency question and its relationship to economics in Africa are not mutually inflammatory topics of discussion--it absolutely needs to be talked about and highlighted. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48882301 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48882301

mr_toad 7y ago
> counter-arguments There wasn’t an argument to counter, it was a throw-away piece of hyperbole. It didn’t vote either way, but I can see people down-voting simply because it looks like trolling. If you want to make a proper argument about Facebook taking over African economics, go ahead. But so far the main ‘argument’ seems to be that it must be evil, because Facebook.
- dvtrn 7y ago
  The original comment I replied to, when I replied to it seems like it was edited by the poster and--as written, was asking what the Facebook currency could portend for emerging economies in Africa. I found it odd that the question would get pushed so far down into almost invisible greyness. As it's written now a lot of that focus and nuance is gone, which is a shame because it was a very good question IMO.
  - petre 7y ago
    You realize that many people in Africa still live in huts without electricity? Facebook currency being widely used in Africa is no more absurd than asking all Indian citizens to receive all their income via a bank account.
    - rexarex 7y ago
      Don’t need electricity to get cell service mate. Most people have mobile phones even if they live in a hut.
      - petre 7y ago
        And they charge their phones how exactly? At work? Using solar panels? I've also seen roma communities in Europe that live in huts but almost every one of these huts as a sat TV antenna and an illegal electricity connection. But what happens when your village doesn't even have an electricity infrastructure?
    - sdenton4 7y ago
      Meanwhile, the first time I was ever in a livestream - on facebook, no less - was on a hike outside of Abuja in Nigeria...
    - dvtrn 7y ago
      “Many people in Africa live in huts” This might blow your mind to hear but the continent of Africa is comprised of many countries, several of which have had electricity for a long damn time, my friend. Some even have, wait for it, CITIES. That people live in. With houses made from brick. And internet access. The fast kind even! You'll have to do better than acting as if Africa can be sufficiently defined by its least developed nations. Or, at least, you should have actually read the link--at least then you would have seen how the "many people in Africa live in huts" line isn't really a helpful assertion to the discussion the rest of us were trying to have about Pan-African economics.
electriclove 7y ago
There is a lot of voting manipulation that occurs on HN (despite the best efforts of the HN crew and algorithms). Facebook actively manages its public image and that extends here as well. Mainland China does it too. And there are many others. /tinfoil
- dang 7y ago
  Please don't make such claims unless you have a good basis for them (this is in the guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html). They're corrosive to the community, and usually there's nothing more to it than that people saw comments on HN that they strongly disagreed with. In such a case it often seems like there can't be any reason why someone would post such things in good faith, so they must be fake—but of course that isn't evidence, other than of the topic being divisive.
  - electriclove 7y ago
    I hear you regarding conjecture though I believe it is important for people to be skeptical of what they read. People have become more aware about this regarding the Main Stream Media and Amazon and Yelp reviews over the past few years but this perspective is also needed when reading things like Wikipedia and HN.

by dvtrn 7y ago

mr_toad 7y ago

> counter-arguments There wasn’t an argument to counter, it was a throw-away piece of hyperbole. It didn’t vote either way, but I can see people down-voting simply because it looks like trolling. If you want to make a proper argument about Facebook taking over African economics, go ahead. But so far the main ‘argument’ seems to be that it must be evil, because Facebook.

dvtrn 7y ago
The original comment I replied to, when I replied to it seems like it was edited by the poster and--as written, was asking what the Facebook currency could portend for emerging economies in Africa. I found it odd that the question would get pushed so far down into almost invisible greyness. As it's written now a lot of that focus and nuance is gone, which is a shame because it was a very good question IMO.
- petre 7y ago
  You realize that many people in Africa still live in huts without electricity? Facebook currency being widely used in Africa is no more absurd than asking all Indian citizens to receive all their income via a bank account.
  - rexarex 7y ago
    Don’t need electricity to get cell service mate. Most people have mobile phones even if they live in a hut.
    - petre 7y ago
      And they charge their phones how exactly? At work? Using solar panels? I've also seen roma communities in Europe that live in huts but almost every one of these huts as a sat TV antenna and an illegal electricity connection. But what happens when your village doesn't even have an electricity infrastructure?
  - sdenton4 7y ago
    Meanwhile, the first time I was ever in a livestream - on facebook, no less - was on a hike outside of Abuja in Nigeria...
  - dvtrn 7y ago
    “Many people in Africa live in huts” This might blow your mind to hear but the continent of Africa is comprised of many countries, several of which have had electricity for a long damn time, my friend. Some even have, wait for it, CITIES. That people live in. With houses made from brick. And internet access. The fast kind even! You'll have to do better than acting as if Africa can be sufficiently defined by its least developed nations. Or, at least, you should have actually read the link--at least then you would have seen how the "many people in Africa live in huts" line isn't really a helpful assertion to the discussion the rest of us were trying to have about Pan-African economics.

electriclove 7y ago

There is a lot of voting manipulation that occurs on HN (despite the best efforts of the HN crew and algorithms). Facebook actively manages its public image and that extends here as well. Mainland China does it too. And there are many others. /tinfoil

dang 7y ago
Please don't make such claims unless you have a good basis for them (this is in the guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html). They're corrosive to the community, and usually there's nothing more to it than that people saw comments on HN that they strongly disagreed with. In such a case it often seems like there can't be any reason why someone would post such things in good faith, so they must be fake—but of course that isn't evidence, other than of the topic being divisive.
- electriclove 7y ago
  I hear you regarding conjecture though I believe it is important for people to be skeptical of what they read. People have become more aware about this regarding the Main Stream Media and Amazon and Yelp reviews over the past few years but this perspective is also needed when reading things like Wikipedia and HN.