4 ms·

Good, NFTs are terrible and anyone who buys one should be ashamed of themself

rfd4sgmk8u 5y ago
I mean, they are, and I agree, one is a sucker if they buy them. But I could say that same about any luxury goods. 'Patek Philippe Watches are terrible and anyone that buys one should be ashamed of themselves'. Now, wanting a world where nobody can buy 'Patek Philippe' watches is not a world I want to live in. If you feel that your life is more complete with a $25k watch, that is your business. This doesnt stop me from wanting to make fun of someone wasting a year of after-tax earnings of the average person for some jewelry that tells the time no better than my phone.
- blacksmith_tb 5y ago
  Far worse than your phone (thanks to NTP), but fancy watches are primarily jewelry, so conspicuous consumption is their entire raison d'etre.
  - rosndo 5y ago
    There’s some complexity to this though. Gold watches are much more conspicuous than steel watches, but steel watches are often considered far more desirable and retail at a huge premium compared to the more conspicuous gold watches.
  - rfd4sgmk8u 5y ago
    That is my point. NFTs are just luxury items for conspicuous consumption. They exist so people can brag and show off. That is their value to the world. The new luxury brands for the nouveau riche. As a person that very much dislikes conspicuous consumption, I feel it has no value to me. Ill be stackin' sats.
berberous 5y ago
I should be ashamed for paying a reasonable price to purchase an NFT to support a unique artist whose work I enjoy? Sure, the NFT current scene is extremely overvalued and filled with fraudsters and low effort cash grabs, but once that implodes, I think it's great if artists will have a means to sell digital art to a wide audience. Tech dudes with tech salaries hating on an avenue for artists to make a living should be ashamed of themselves.
- pcwalton 5y ago
  NFTs are something "tech dudes" created, not something artists were actually asking for. This is reflected in the amount of utility NFTs as a concept generally bring to artists: negative, because of the constant stress of having to file takedowns on fraudulent NFTs. It's unbelievable how much time artists nowadays are forced to devote to combatting NFT fraud.
- magicalhippo 5y ago
  Why buy a NFT and not just send them money via Paypal, Patreon or similar?
  - p_l 5y ago
    Rarely, rarely, you hit the mythical 1 promile case where the blockchain works where other options don't. But it's rare, and usually involves actual involvement with the creator, not some scummy mass production scam like Bored Apes.
  - berberous 5y ago
    Human nature. Humans like to collect things, and if you feel like you own a limited edition of something, you will be more inclined to purchase it. DVDs were a cash cow for the movie industry, in a way that streaming (including the ability to buy on digital services) is not. I don’t necessarily think it’s logical to collect DVDs, toys, concert merchandise, or NFTs, but if humanity appears to enjoy it, and it thus creates a sizeable revenue stream for artists, what is the harm? Your way is logical, but will in fact not have the same result.
    - magicalhippo 5y ago
      But if you collect DVDs or toys at least you have something. The NFTs are essentially hot air tulips in comparison, as far as I can gather. If the NFT itself contained the artists signature of the actual work, the bits in a PNG or similar, as well as the license for that work, then that would be something at least.
  - Jxl180 5y ago
swalsh 5y ago
I bought an NFT last night, I thought it looked cool. I have no regrets on giving an artist some money. It's also pretty cool that if I sell it, the artist gets some more money, and if that person sells it, the artist gets some more money again. It's also cool that I did it on a PoS chain, so it's not even an environmental problem. I could have just right clicked, and saved it, and used it as a profile pic on twitter. But that seemed weird, what if the person who DID pay for it used it too. That would make me kind of a dick.
yesbut 5y ago
Wait, why aren't you welcoming this new era of "digital scarcity"? Get with the times, man. /s
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

I mean, they are, and I agree, one is a sucker if they buy them. But I could say that same about any luxury goods. 'Patek Philippe Watches are terrible and anyone that buys one should be ashamed of themselves'. Now, wanting a world where nobody can buy 'Patek Philippe' watches is not a world I want to live in. If you feel that your life is more complete with a $25k watch, that is your business. This doesnt stop me from wanting to make fun of someone wasting a year of after-tax earnings of the average person for some jewelry that tells the time no better than my phone.

blacksmith_tb 5y ago
Far worse than your phone (thanks to NTP), but fancy watches are primarily jewelry, so conspicuous consumption is their entire raison d'etre.
- rosndo 5y ago
  There’s some complexity to this though. Gold watches are much more conspicuous than steel watches, but steel watches are often considered far more desirable and retail at a huge premium compared to the more conspicuous gold watches.
- rfd4sgmk8u 5y ago
  That is my point. NFTs are just luxury items for conspicuous consumption. They exist so people can brag and show off. That is their value to the world. The new luxury brands for the nouveau riche. As a person that very much dislikes conspicuous consumption, I feel it has no value to me. Ill be stackin' sats.

berberous 5y ago

I should be ashamed for paying a reasonable price to purchase an NFT to support a unique artist whose work I enjoy? Sure, the NFT current scene is extremely overvalued and filled with fraudsters and low effort cash grabs, but once that implodes, I think it's great if artists will have a means to sell digital art to a wide audience. Tech dudes with tech salaries hating on an avenue for artists to make a living should be ashamed of themselves.

pcwalton 5y ago
NFTs are something "tech dudes" created, not something artists were actually asking for. This is reflected in the amount of utility NFTs as a concept generally bring to artists: negative, because of the constant stress of having to file takedowns on fraudulent NFTs. It's unbelievable how much time artists nowadays are forced to devote to combatting NFT fraud.
magicalhippo 5y ago
Why buy a NFT and not just send them money via Paypal, Patreon or similar?
- p_l 5y ago
  Rarely, rarely, you hit the mythical 1 promile case where the blockchain works where other options don't. But it's rare, and usually involves actual involvement with the creator, not some scummy mass production scam like Bored Apes.
- berberous 5y ago
  Human nature. Humans like to collect things, and if you feel like you own a limited edition of something, you will be more inclined to purchase it. DVDs were a cash cow for the movie industry, in a way that streaming (including the ability to buy on digital services) is not. I don’t necessarily think it’s logical to collect DVDs, toys, concert merchandise, or NFTs, but if humanity appears to enjoy it, and it thus creates a sizeable revenue stream for artists, what is the harm? Your way is logical, but will in fact not have the same result.
  - magicalhippo 5y ago
    But if you collect DVDs or toys at least you have something. The NFTs are essentially hot air tulips in comparison, as far as I can gather. If the NFT itself contained the artists signature of the actual work, the bits in a PNG or similar, as well as the license for that work, then that would be something at least.
- Jxl180 5y ago

swalsh 5y ago

I bought an NFT last night, I thought it looked cool. I have no regrets on giving an artist some money. It's also pretty cool that if I sell it, the artist gets some more money, and if that person sells it, the artist gets some more money again. It's also cool that I did it on a PoS chain, so it's not even an environmental problem. I could have just right clicked, and saved it, and used it as a profile pic on twitter. But that seemed weird, what if the person who DID pay for it used it too. That would make me kind of a dick.

yesbut 5y ago

Wait, why aren't you welcoming this new era of "digital scarcity"? Get with the times, man. /s

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]