5 ms·
They have a $5/month "starving hacker" subscription level. Morally you ought not to use it if you can afford more, but I expect they'd rather you use it than gi
by quietbritishjim 3y ago
They have a $5/month "starving hacker" subscription level. Morally you ought not to use it if you can afford more, but I expect they'd rather you use it than give them no money at.
Personally, I pay for "project leader" level ($16.00/month) so I can give them a bit more... But I'm not up to "maniacal supporer" ($50.00/month)!
- fluoridation 3y ago"Morally"? According to what moral framework it's wrong to accept the lower price when someone offers you the exact same product at two different prices?
- oasisaimlessly 3y ago^ This guy gets his groceries from food banks.
- nemetroid 3y agoClearly if no such moral framework existed, LWN would not offer both prices.
- quietbritishjim 3y agoWhen they clearly tell you so, and it's a good cause. Why overcomplicate things?
- fluoridation 3y agoDo you always take what a seller says at face value? It seems to me that introducing morality into the discussion is overcomplicating it. I don't feel I have any moral obligations with the people I trade with, beyond not deceiving them.
- irishsultan 3y agoWhen they tell you "the price is low if A is the case, and high if A is not the case" and you say "I'll take the lower price" and A is not the case then you are deceiving them.
- fluoridation 3y agoWhen I said "deceive" I was thinking more along the lines of currency being counterfeit or product not being up to spec. Anything not directly related to the transaction is the private business of each party. I don't ask the people I buy things from to show me their accounting books to see if the price they ask for is fair, so why should I accept any questions regarding how much I'm able to afford?
- devmor 3y agoIf a hotel you are planning on staying at for a business trip is offering free rooms for people affected by a natural disaster, do you take the free room?
- za3faran 3y agoApples to oranges.
- fluoridation 3y agoA hotel has a finite number of rooms. An online publication has no practical limit on the number of subscriptions it can sell, unless it sells them at below cost.
- devmor 3y agoThere are also a finite number of people needing to stay there. So imagine you know there are a lot of open rooms, do you still lie and take one?
- fluoridation 3y agoI assume you're saying that in this hypothetical the hotel has so many rooms that it could host all of those people. In that case, no I probably wouldn't. Not because I think it's immoral, but because I don't know what repercussions I could face if I'm caught in my lie. If I knew for sure that there could be no repercussions then, yes, I probably would lie. I see literally no reason not to do so.
- zamalek 3y agoI guess you're right, it's not about morals. It is about common decency (alongside things such as not littering), though.
- marcodiego 3y agoThe moral framework of those see the subscription price as a donation for a good cause.