4 ms·

Some of the comments here are really disappointing. Can't believe some people here are focusing on the fact that it's illegal to sell candy on the subway instea

by jcc80 15y ago

Some of the comments here are really disappointing. Can't believe some people here are focusing on the fact that it's illegal to sell candy on the subway instead of this guys' hustle and trying to drag him down. Good to see the worlds current/future patent trolls and paper pushers have found HN in time to rip on someone making his own way.

JMStewy 15y ago
That last line seems a bit uncalled for. I commend the entrepreneurial traits this man showed, but I don't see how you can simply dismiss the fact that he's profiting from a tragedy-of-the-commons situation. Just because there are some good things about his attitude doesn't mean he can't be criticized. This story isn't really about the wealth-producing sort of entrepreneurialism that I come to HN for, so I'm not surprised there are negative comments on this post.
- jcc80 15y ago
  Obviously I thought it was called for. Some people are criticizing because it's "illegal" and therefor wrong. Someone below brought up how GrubWithUs illegally inserted flyers into daily papers and they were praised for being scrappy. Another mentioned the legal grey areas of startups like Uber or Airbnb. And you're right this story is different than the norm on HN. I wanted to relate those criticizing to something they understand like patent trolls who try to rip others down or someone criticizing another for going for it while they sit behind a desk for 40 years implementing 1% of someone else's vision. My point was that maybe they should be rooting for the person that goes for it whether it's a SV startup or selling widgets on the street.
  - gerggerg 15y ago
    "rooting for the person that goes for it" is an example prime of a subjective statement. Do you not think that patent trolls perceive themselves as "going for it"?
    - jcc80 15y ago
      I think they do. But, I also think you're probably smart enough to know what I meant.
PissedOffHNer 15y ago
You'd think hacker news members, wantreprenuers from all over the world, would applaud his effort... I was so upset over the many comments below. I typed up a rant. But went back and re-read everything just to try to see it from everyone's point of view. I have some questions for you guys: - If it were 2 little white girls selling cookies to save up to go to college I personally believe the comments below would have a completely different tone. But because it's a black guy named "Tracks" wearing $300 shoes selling candy the community looks down on it... Yes, I pulled the race card, it's the perfect time for it, and I'm a pasty ass white kid. I laugh at "nigga" jokes like everyone else but this is just the perfect example of subtle racism, something it took my black friends a long time to explain to me. Just a few weeks ago, didn't hacker news have a link on the front page about how kids (white county kids) across the US are being handed hundred dollar fines for operating Lemonade stands without $400 food permits. Lemonade stands are also "illegal". THIS is the problem with America, it's turning into Anti-Business Europe. Selling anything requires 12 pounds of permits and licenses. THIS is what is slowly killing the US, THIS is what Steve Jobs was talking about when he complained to the President that building factories in the USA is so much harder than in China. "Selling on the subway is annoying." - Excuse me but, what the fuck are you doing on the subway that is so god damn important that you can't be snapped out of your "state of zen" and hear someone ask "anyone want candy, candy for $2" for 5-10 seconds max. The loud ass subway, underground, with no view, screeching and bumping and vibrating along. And the black guy selling candy is what's bothering you?! Again... If it were 2 little white girls selling cookies you'd smile and wish there were more little entrepreneurs like them in the world. If it were "annoying" people wouldn't be giving him 50 thousand dollars a year. They wouldn't be buying his candy. "It's illegal:" - Says who? Law and ethics are 2 different things. In the US it's illegal to download media for personal use, in Switzerland it's not. In the US the drinking age is 21, in other countries it's 16. Who is "right"? Who is "correct"? So many laws are made by rich men to benefit rich men that over the decades our middle class has shrunki, the richest country in the world is in debt, and our jobs are being lost overseas. The Rich are getting richer, the poor getting poorer. This is what happens when well established rich men use the "Law" to keep everyone else down while making themselves untouchable. Making everything "illegal". Selling candy on the subway is not allowed, selling lemonade in front of your house is not allowed. Where the fuck can I go to make a living? The jobs are all gone too. HOLD ON, is the Subway not public grounds? Do we not pay taxes for public transportation, pay again to use it, and we still can't sell shit there?! So I can't sell lemonade in my own fucking front yard, I can't sell candy on my own fucking public land. Do you see where I'm going with this... Not only that but city planning, government policies, and the fact that only 50 years ago blacks weren't allows to shit and piss in the same bathrooms as whites. All these policies together have created unequal societies, segregated cities, ghettos, and deprived groups of people of all color from a future. This is the equivalent of complaining about Native Americans setting up TeePees in Public Parks because it's illegal. There's a time to fuck the law and a time to follow it. Time after time I see posts on hacker news about white men doing semi-illegal things and making big bucks out of it. This time a black dude did it and we all piss on him. Glad to see racism is alive and well, even in entrepreneurs. I hope you all come back in your next lives as Gay Black Jews living in a parallel universe where it's the 1800s.
pavel_lishin 15y ago
> Can't believe some people here are focusing on the fact that it's illegal to sell candy on the subway It matters. Like someone else pointed out, the fact that it's illegal minimizes his competition. You could make a business making and selling child pornography, and for awhile, you'd be making a lot of money, too. ("But child pornography actually hurts people," you cry, "so it's a terrible analogy!" Shut up. The analogy isn't about the crime, it's about the lack of competition.)

by jcc80 15y ago

JMStewy 15y ago

That last line seems a bit uncalled for. I commend the entrepreneurial traits this man showed, but I don't see how you can simply dismiss the fact that he's profiting from a tragedy-of-the-commons situation. Just because there are some good things about his attitude doesn't mean he can't be criticized. This story isn't really about the wealth-producing sort of entrepreneurialism that I come to HN for, so I'm not surprised there are negative comments on this post.

jcc80 15y ago
Obviously I thought it was called for. Some people are criticizing because it's "illegal" and therefor wrong. Someone below brought up how GrubWithUs illegally inserted flyers into daily papers and they were praised for being scrappy. Another mentioned the legal grey areas of startups like Uber or Airbnb. And you're right this story is different than the norm on HN. I wanted to relate those criticizing to something they understand like patent trolls who try to rip others down or someone criticizing another for going for it while they sit behind a desk for 40 years implementing 1% of someone else's vision. My point was that maybe they should be rooting for the person that goes for it whether it's a SV startup or selling widgets on the street.
- gerggerg 15y ago
  "rooting for the person that goes for it" is an example prime of a subjective statement. Do you not think that patent trolls perceive themselves as "going for it"?
  - jcc80 15y ago
    I think they do. But, I also think you're probably smart enough to know what I meant.

PissedOffHNer 15y ago

You'd think hacker news members, wantreprenuers from all over the world, would applaud his effort... I was so upset over the many comments below. I typed up a rant. But went back and re-read everything just to try to see it from everyone's point of view. I have some questions for you guys: - If it were 2 little white girls selling cookies to save up to go to college I personally believe the comments below would have a completely different tone. But because it's a black guy named "Tracks" wearing $300 shoes selling candy the community looks down on it... Yes, I pulled the race card, it's the perfect time for it, and I'm a pasty ass white kid. I laugh at "nigga" jokes like everyone else but this is just the perfect example of subtle racism, something it took my black friends a long time to explain to me. Just a few weeks ago, didn't hacker news have a link on the front page about how kids (white county kids) across the US are being handed hundred dollar fines for operating Lemonade stands without $400 food permits. Lemonade stands are also "illegal". THIS is the problem with America, it's turning into Anti-Business Europe. Selling anything requires 12 pounds of permits and licenses. THIS is what is slowly killing the US, THIS is what Steve Jobs was talking about when he complained to the President that building factories in the USA is so much harder than in China. "Selling on the subway is annoying." - Excuse me but, what the fuck are you doing on the subway that is so god damn important that you can't be snapped out of your "state of zen" and hear someone ask "anyone want candy, candy for $2" for 5-10 seconds max. The loud ass subway, underground, with no view, screeching and bumping and vibrating along. And the black guy selling candy is what's bothering you?! Again... If it were 2 little white girls selling cookies you'd smile and wish there were more little entrepreneurs like them in the world. If it were "annoying" people wouldn't be giving him 50 thousand dollars a year. They wouldn't be buying his candy. "It's illegal:" - Says who? Law and ethics are 2 different things. In the US it's illegal to download media for personal use, in Switzerland it's not. In the US the drinking age is 21, in other countries it's 16. Who is "right"? Who is "correct"? So many laws are made by rich men to benefit rich men that over the decades our middle class has shrunki, the richest country in the world is in debt, and our jobs are being lost overseas. The Rich are getting richer, the poor getting poorer. This is what happens when well established rich men use the "Law" to keep everyone else down while making themselves untouchable. Making everything "illegal". Selling candy on the subway is not allowed, selling lemonade in front of your house is not allowed. Where the fuck can I go to make a living? The jobs are all gone too. HOLD ON, is the Subway not public grounds? Do we not pay taxes for public transportation, pay again to use it, and we still can't sell shit there?! So I can't sell lemonade in my own fucking front yard, I can't sell candy on my own fucking public land. Do you see where I'm going with this... Not only that but city planning, government policies, and the fact that only 50 years ago blacks weren't allows to shit and piss in the same bathrooms as whites. All these policies together have created unequal societies, segregated cities, ghettos, and deprived groups of people of all color from a future. This is the equivalent of complaining about Native Americans setting up TeePees in Public Parks because it's illegal. There's a time to fuck the law and a time to follow it. Time after time I see posts on hacker news about white men doing semi-illegal things and making big bucks out of it. This time a black dude did it and we all piss on him. Glad to see racism is alive and well, even in entrepreneurs. I hope you all come back in your next lives as Gay Black Jews living in a parallel universe where it's the 1800s.

pavel_lishin 15y ago

> Can't believe some people here are focusing on the fact that it's illegal to sell candy on the subway It matters. Like someone else pointed out, the fact that it's illegal minimizes his competition. You could make a business making and selling child pornography, and for awhile, you'd be making a lot of money, too. ("But child pornography actually hurts people," you cry, "so it's a terrible analogy!" Shut up. The analogy isn't about the crime, it's about the lack of competition.)