3 ms·

Jonathanscard: A social experiment, or not?

9 points by danielodio 15y ago

ltamake 15y ago
It doesn't matter if Sam is donating the money to charity. Fact is that he stole money from kind-hearted people who thought they were buying coffee for others. Like I said in the other comments, you wouldn't rob a bank and then try to make up for it by donating all that money to charity, right?
- smoyer 15y ago
  Hmmm ... robin Hood was deemed a hero by the common folk and a villain in the eyes of the law. And perhaps Sam will be viewed the same way as he "pilfered" coffee from the rich and fed children with the proceeds. Certainly he'll be a hero to those kids. But the more interesting facet of this story (to me) is that everyone is so clearly on one side or the other. I'd love to run a sociology experiment that tried to determine how those lines were drawn.
  - Hyena 15y ago
    Robin Hood was largely stealing from a landed Norman aristocracy which had conquered and subjugated the people he was giving to. That's the context for the legend. Try again.
citricsquid 15y ago
(Maybe it's just me being overly... I don't know the word, but overly something...:) > And It’s funny to see those comments on a site titled “HackerNews.” It's as if he's trying to guilt people here into thinking "oh, that's true! Startups have to disrupt! Therefore it's okay for him to fuck with stuff because he's a startup! It's okay!". Which to me is really really lame. Let people form their own opinions. The social experiment was people giving to others, for the experiment succeed it required people to pay it forward, for it to fail it'd require people to not pay it forward, based on Jonathan's reply[1] to the entire situation I think it's pretty clear there was never the intention or expectation that someone asshat would come along and take all the money. Why they're still trying to justify this and won't just accept they shit all over something good is beyond me, maybe they're that desperate for publicity that this is all they can do. Grasping at every last second. [1]: http://jonathanstark.com/blog/2011/08/13/an-open-letter-to-sam-odio/ http://jonathanstark.com/blog/2011/08/13/an-open-letter-to-s...
Terretta 15y ago
> Sam took a social experiment and ran a social experiment on it. I think the general consensus is, "Want to run an experiment? Great! Get your own."

9 points by danielodio 15y ago

It doesn't matter if Sam is donating the money to charity. Fact is that he stole money from kind-hearted people who thought they were buying coffee for others. Like I said in the other comments, you wouldn't rob a bank and then try to make up for it by donating all that money to charity, right?

smoyer 15y ago
Hmmm ... robin Hood was deemed a hero by the common folk and a villain in the eyes of the law. And perhaps Sam will be viewed the same way as he "pilfered" coffee from the rich and fed children with the proceeds. Certainly he'll be a hero to those kids. But the more interesting facet of this story (to me) is that everyone is so clearly on one side or the other. I'd love to run a sociology experiment that tried to determine how those lines were drawn.
- Hyena 15y ago
  Robin Hood was largely stealing from a landed Norman aristocracy which had conquered and subjugated the people he was giving to. That's the context for the legend. Try again.

citricsquid 15y ago

(Maybe it's just me being overly... I don't know the word, but overly something...:) > And It’s funny to see those comments on a site titled “HackerNews.” It's as if he's trying to guilt people here into thinking "oh, that's true! Startups have to disrupt! Therefore it's okay for him to fuck with stuff because he's a startup! It's okay!". Which to me is really really lame. Let people form their own opinions. The social experiment was people giving to others, for the experiment succeed it required people to pay it forward, for it to fail it'd require people to not pay it forward, based on Jonathan's reply[1] to the entire situation I think it's pretty clear there was never the intention or expectation that someone asshat would come along and take all the money. Why they're still trying to justify this and won't just accept they shit all over something good is beyond me, maybe they're that desperate for publicity that this is all they can do. Grasping at every last second. [1]: http://jonathanstark.com/blog/2011/08/13/an-open-letter-to-sam-odio/ http://jonathanstark.com/blog/2011/08/13/an-open-letter-to-s...

Terretta 15y ago

> Sam took a social experiment and ran a social experiment on it. I think the general consensus is, "Want to run an experiment? Great! Get your own."