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> We really don't, since it's been beautifully illustrated through Google's actions over the years. You've proven that it should be changed to "If something fr

> We really don't, since it's been beautifully illustrated through Google's actions over the years. You've proven that it should be changed to "If something free is Google's, you are the product". Free things I'm benefiting from right now (right as I write this): Hacker News, Firefox, Linux, a keyboard a friend gifted me, a video of a guy talking about the color brown, the electricity paid by my landlord. I also just took out the trash which will be picked up, for free, by the city. I'm the "product" of none of these things. They are paid for, indirectly, just as pretty much everything is. Just as for example, your volunteering time is paid for by your other actions in life allowing you to give this time away. So what we should maybe change it to is closer to: "If something is free, it's just fucking free and there can be a host of reasons as to why so stop thinking in soundbites and employ critical thinking instead of being cynical about everything."

neon_electro 4y ago
From your perspective, a more charitable rewriting of the phrase should be "If a product or service that sounds like it should cost money is free, and it's obvious the product or service is not something being made available through gift/barter/mutual aid, then you might be a part of the product's revenue generation strategy."
gaganyaan 4y ago
The electricity and trash are bad examples to bring up. You're paying for those with increased rent and municipal taxes. Open source projects like Firefox and Linux are sort of counter-examples, except they're backed by nonprofits. If a nonprofit is giving something away, there's actually a decent chance that they don't have surreptitious motives. Same for a friend giving you something, that's not really a "product" in the sense of the saying. I'd say that HN actually falls into the category of productizing its users. The reason HN exists is to attract talent to Y Combinator, and to get an audience for the companies they fund. It's a productive relationship that has created a great forum, but HN doesn't just exist for goodness' sake.

neon_electro 4y ago

From your perspective, a more charitable rewriting of the phrase should be "If a product or service that sounds like it should cost money is free, and it's obvious the product or service is not something being made available through gift/barter/mutual aid, then you might be a part of the product's revenue generation strategy."

gaganyaan 4y ago

The electricity and trash are bad examples to bring up. You're paying for those with increased rent and municipal taxes. Open source projects like Firefox and Linux are sort of counter-examples, except they're backed by nonprofits. If a nonprofit is giving something away, there's actually a decent chance that they don't have surreptitious motives. Same for a friend giving you something, that's not really a "product" in the sense of the saying. I'd say that HN actually falls into the category of productizing its users. The reason HN exists is to attract talent to Y Combinator, and to get an audience for the companies they fund. It's a productive relationship that has created a great forum, but HN doesn't just exist for goodness' sake.