3 ms·

The article author obviously is astro-turfing for the company and if people want to link infomercials passing for journalism I can have an opinion on that. (I a

by hurin 11y ago

The article author obviously is astro-turfing for the company and if people want to link infomercials passing for journalism I can have an opinion on that. (I agree that I did not phrase my first comment well and it makes it sound like I implied ColinWright's involvement specifically, I've fixed that). That doesn't change the fact that it's a duplicate from within 12* hours and should get removed.

VikingCoder 11y ago
> obviously Or they think it's fascinating and want to share. I'm saying it's not "obviously" anything, to me.
- hurin 11y ago
  Yes, because the fascinating thing about earning near minimum-wage in the US is that there is a new app to help you budget. But I guess you can believe that if it helps you sustain the tech-companies selling apps are doing great things for society myth.
  - VikingCoder 11y ago
    I highly recommend you watch the John Oliver segment on Payday Loans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDylgzybWAw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDylgzybWAw ANYTHING that helps get rid of those scum is a huge improvement.
    - hurin 11y ago
      > ANYTHING that helps get rid of those scum is a huge improvement. And these guys are truly crusaders for the working-class poor that are going to fix the system? Or they are just going to cash in on updating payday-loans to the 21st century Iphone version. I mean it's a good idea and I'm sure they can be very successful if it's well executed. AND I have no doubts they will be just as scummy-bag as the market & regulations allow them to be. Which is very American and I guess it's fine. But please excuse my low tolerance for packaging the profit motive of a company as helping the working class poor.
      - VikingCoder 11y ago
        Competition IS GOOD. If you think that even.me is exploiting their customer base, but is otherwise a good idea, then I sincerely recommend you try to create or help someone who will compete with them, offering similar service. Perhaps for $2.50 a week. And no, they're clearly not going to "fix the system," but it sounds to me like their idea would be good for some people. Would actually help them.
      - zo1 11y ago
        >"But please excuse my low tolerance for packaging the profit motive of a company as helping the working class poor." They're not mutually exclusive, to be honest. You can make a profit AND help the target group. Additionally I hope you're honest as well, and say that's okay instead of bashing them for "making a profit" while helping the needy. On a curious side note... Where abouts exactly do you place "non-profits" in this whole thing? What about government?
        hurin 11y ago
        > They're not mutually exclusive, to be honest. You can make a profit AND help the target group. Additionally I hope you're honest as well, Exactly - and talking about the app "helping the needy" is especially dishonest. Sure she can pay $3 a week instead of a $35 over-draft on her Bank Account -- and if you think that's help then I assume you've never had to live on minimum wage. > Additionally I hope you're honest as well, and say that's okay instead of bashing them for "making a profit" while helping the needy. To be clear, I did not bash the company. They picked a particularly scummy industry that hasn't been disrupted by technology and they are doing their thing -- and the job of their PR department is to sell their technology and part of that is playing up "help the needy". On the other-hand I have a real problem with this as an article. It doesn't start off talking about an app, instead it introduces a particular person, draws in the reader's sympathy to that person's difficulties and then resolves that into marketing a product - basically making a joke of the actual problems (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United...). No, I don't seriously believe there is any such journalist who interviews someone living on an unpredictable near-minimum-wage and whose honest first impulse and thought is "they need an app to help them". This is a shill if I've ever seen one.

by hurin 11y ago

VikingCoder 11y ago

> obviously Or they think it's fascinating and want to share. I'm saying it's not "obviously" anything, to me.

hurin 11y ago
Yes, because the fascinating thing about earning near minimum-wage in the US is that there is a new app to help you budget. But I guess you can believe that if it helps you sustain the tech-companies selling apps are doing great things for society myth.
- VikingCoder 11y ago
  I highly recommend you watch the John Oliver segment on Payday Loans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDylgzybWAw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDylgzybWAw ANYTHING that helps get rid of those scum is a huge improvement.
  - hurin 11y ago
    > ANYTHING that helps get rid of those scum is a huge improvement. And these guys are truly crusaders for the working-class poor that are going to fix the system? Or they are just going to cash in on updating payday-loans to the 21st century Iphone version. I mean it's a good idea and I'm sure they can be very successful if it's well executed. AND I have no doubts they will be just as scummy-bag as the market & regulations allow them to be. Which is very American and I guess it's fine. But please excuse my low tolerance for packaging the profit motive of a company as helping the working class poor.
    - VikingCoder 11y ago
      Competition IS GOOD. If you think that even.me is exploiting their customer base, but is otherwise a good idea, then I sincerely recommend you try to create or help someone who will compete with them, offering similar service. Perhaps for $2.50 a week. And no, they're clearly not going to "fix the system," but it sounds to me like their idea would be good for some people. Would actually help them.
    - zo1 11y ago
      >"But please excuse my low tolerance for packaging the profit motive of a company as helping the working class poor." They're not mutually exclusive, to be honest. You can make a profit AND help the target group. Additionally I hope you're honest as well, and say that's okay instead of bashing them for "making a profit" while helping the needy. On a curious side note... Where abouts exactly do you place "non-profits" in this whole thing? What about government?
      - hurin 11y ago
        > They're not mutually exclusive, to be honest. You can make a profit AND help the target group. Additionally I hope you're honest as well, Exactly - and talking about the app "helping the needy" is especially dishonest. Sure she can pay $3 a week instead of a $35 over-draft on her Bank Account -- and if you think that's help then I assume you've never had to live on minimum wage. > Additionally I hope you're honest as well, and say that's okay instead of bashing them for "making a profit" while helping the needy. To be clear, I did not bash the company. They picked a particularly scummy industry that hasn't been disrupted by technology and they are doing their thing -- and the job of their PR department is to sell their technology and part of that is playing up "help the needy". On the other-hand I have a real problem with this as an article. It doesn't start off talking about an app, instead it introduces a particular person, draws in the reader's sympathy to that person's difficulties and then resolves that into marketing a product - basically making a joke of the actual problems (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United...). No, I don't seriously believe there is any such journalist who interviews someone living on an unpredictable near-minimum-wage and whose honest first impulse and thought is "they need an app to help them". This is a shill if I've ever seen one.