3 ms·

Can you please describe how the ponzi scheme works? Seems you can just download open source software and use it without buying any tokens… and even if you did b

by EGreg 4y ago

Can you please describe how the ponzi scheme works? Seems you can just download open source software and use it without buying any tokens… and even if you did buy tokens, where is the ponzi? Many startups are “almost” ponzi schemes, where money from later stage investors keeps propping up a business that has negative unit economics, offen no revenues. Twitter made zero revenues when it was valued at $100M. Who paid the bills? Twitter has been losing money when Elon’s group bought it. Who’s paying the bills? On the other hand I am giving away software for free, that took 4 years to write, that I paid hundreds of thousands to a team I work with, and took jobs to do it. I give it away for free, you don’t even LOOK at it and call it a ponzi. Yep, my description is accurate. The grandparent commenter asked: doesn't anyone want to tackle a problem that might actually be difficult and meaningful to humanity rather than "how can I come up with novel ways to get people to be stuck on their phones for longer?" This is why. Capital talks. And capital is invested mostly in bullshit that can produce hype, not open source software that can change the world. People don’t look at substance, they follow trends. I give away software for free that solves the very problems many people on HN are hired to solve for years and people can’t be bothered to look unless there is hype around it first. You have your answer right here.

moffkalast 4y ago
Sure that's all well and true, though you somehow missed the part where web3 fits the "bullshit that can produce hype" description perfectly. What separates your app from thousands others that pretend to do something profound but end up rugpulling in a few months? I suppose the part where you actually need to get people's money before running away with it... The entire industry is so tainted by bad actors that only complete hacks are still interested in doing anything in it, which will only continue to reduce the percentage of legit projects until there are none at all. > Seems you can just download open source software and use it without buying any tokens… and even if you did buy tokens, where is the ponzi? All crypto fundamentally works on the principle. Prices are based on popularity and demand alone, or hype as you call it. There's nothing of actual value there. Just because you're a side participant doesn't make it any less that. Like buying a Herbalife drink or something. > Many startups are “almost” ponzi schemes That's entirely correct, and so is most of the stock market (non-dividend paying stocks) and practically all pension systems worldwide pretty much. It's all an unsustainable trainwreck in the long run.
- EGreg 4y ago
  What separates your app from thousands others that pretend to do something profound but end up rugpulling in a few months? I suppose the part where you actually need to get people's money before running away with it... Have you even clicked the link and given the description a cursory look? It isn’t one app, it’s many. What separates them is that they are built to be used by entire communities, not peer to peer. There is documentation, there are interviews with regulators. And all you have to do to use it is press a button and it costs you nothing. It is altogether different than the scams that have hype and no product. Prices of what, exactly? Your comment reads exactly like a cookie cutter generic cargo cult comment where you didnt even look at what is specifically being discussed.
  - moffkalast 4y ago
    > by entire communities Ah yes "but but the community!" You crypto bros really just repeat yourselves over and over. > where you didnt even look at what is specifically being discussed Because I don't really care about yet another pointless web 3 project that will at best achieve nothing and at worst lose a lot of people's hard earned money. How much gas fees are you paying to make any of it work? I'd rather not even know.
    - EGreg 4y ago
      So you're against communities having software? You think centralized server farms owned by Big Tech is the only place where their software should run? Another pointless centralized VC-backed proprietary silo which "captures" a market and extracts rents, at best does nothing and at worst wastes a lot of people's time and makes them addicted, anxious, more antisocial, and work like sharecropper slaves to contribute content that's milked for "eyeballs"? More likely, you still haven't looked at anything in the link. Allow me to make some statements about it then: https://intercoin.org/applications https://intercoin.org/applications is the only thing that's even related to Web3 The other links are not. Like, at all. If you can't spend a single minute to look, why would I waste more time correcting your straw men?

by EGreg 4y ago

moffkalast 4y ago

Sure that's all well and true, though you somehow missed the part where web3 fits the "bullshit that can produce hype" description perfectly. What separates your app from thousands others that pretend to do something profound but end up rugpulling in a few months? I suppose the part where you actually need to get people's money before running away with it... The entire industry is so tainted by bad actors that only complete hacks are still interested in doing anything in it, which will only continue to reduce the percentage of legit projects until there are none at all. > Seems you can just download open source software and use it without buying any tokens… and even if you did buy tokens, where is the ponzi? All crypto fundamentally works on the principle. Prices are based on popularity and demand alone, or hype as you call it. There's nothing of actual value there. Just because you're a side participant doesn't make it any less that. Like buying a Herbalife drink or something. > Many startups are “almost” ponzi schemes That's entirely correct, and so is most of the stock market (non-dividend paying stocks) and practically all pension systems worldwide pretty much. It's all an unsustainable trainwreck in the long run.

EGreg 4y ago
What separates your app from thousands others that pretend to do something profound but end up rugpulling in a few months? I suppose the part where you actually need to get people's money before running away with it... Have you even clicked the link and given the description a cursory look? It isn’t one app, it’s many. What separates them is that they are built to be used by entire communities, not peer to peer. There is documentation, there are interviews with regulators. And all you have to do to use it is press a button and it costs you nothing. It is altogether different than the scams that have hype and no product. Prices of what, exactly? Your comment reads exactly like a cookie cutter generic cargo cult comment where you didnt even look at what is specifically being discussed.
- moffkalast 4y ago
  > by entire communities Ah yes "but but the community!" You crypto bros really just repeat yourselves over and over. > where you didnt even look at what is specifically being discussed Because I don't really care about yet another pointless web 3 project that will at best achieve nothing and at worst lose a lot of people's hard earned money. How much gas fees are you paying to make any of it work? I'd rather not even know.
  - EGreg 4y ago
    So you're against communities having software? You think centralized server farms owned by Big Tech is the only place where their software should run? Another pointless centralized VC-backed proprietary silo which "captures" a market and extracts rents, at best does nothing and at worst wastes a lot of people's time and makes them addicted, anxious, more antisocial, and work like sharecropper slaves to contribute content that's milked for "eyeballs"? More likely, you still haven't looked at anything in the link. Allow me to make some statements about it then: https://intercoin.org/applications https://intercoin.org/applications is the only thing that's even related to Web3 The other links are not. Like, at all. If you can't spend a single minute to look, why would I waste more time correcting your straw men?