Which billionaires are doing the most good? • Hacker News Board

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#111

Post by ztratar » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 9:44 PM UTC

OJFord wrote: post #9

Arainach wrote: post #3

Are the metrics for this described somewhere? I find the top two surprising. From their numbers, Dorsey has donated $1B (26% of his current $3.8B net worth), while Gates has donated $36B (36% of his current net worth). So....Gates has donated more as a share of his net worth and SIGNIFICANTLY more in raw numbers. What justifies putting Dorsey ahead of him?

> Top donors this month Is the (admittedly quite small) heading. Also I noted that Brin (only one I clicked on) is in last place/#29 at $0 this month. So (and to find out was the reason I clicked) this is 'how much have these 29 billionaires donated this month'; not 'who are the top billionaire donors, all listed are big donors'.

Admittedly the scoring just highly multiplies donations for this month. It still gives some weight to donations and giving before hand, but less so.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#112

Post by ztratar » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 9:45 PM UTC

munk-a wrote: post #98

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just above the billionaire cards it says: Top Donors This Month. So Dorsey donating this month likely put him at the front. I totally skimmed right past that and didn't read it either because there's no filter for overall or any other period. Perfect example of design flaw that a designer would argue is the user's fault cause "ITS RIGHT THERE!"

I'd really like to talk to any designer that endorsed this site because there are three titles - One top-title (annoyingly in all-small) one caption title in title case (Well done on it's own but quite conflicted against the all-small over-title) and then an additional sub-title that is, unaccountably, placed after a social media callout... in other words placed in a position after the thing everyone ignores... Also…

I'm the designer. And engineer, etc. :P

Sorry, which are the three titles?

I see "billionaire board" and "Top donors this month" as two, but what's the third?

Will put the caps in sync!

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#113

Post by ztratar » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 9:46 PM UTC

DrScientist wrote: post #24

Rather misleading. For example it has Jeff Bezos donating 10 billion to a new 'Bezos Earth Fund'. However it hasn't yet issued any grants so as of today, he has merely moved money from one place he controls to another one I assume he still controls.

Good feedback. I'm going to make the pledges into funds count for less, and make it more obvious which $ has been pledged vs deployed.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#114

Post by ztratar » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 9:52 PM UTC

andrepd wrote: post #30

kemiller2002 wrote: post #6

I don't like rankings like this. I'm not saying all of them, but at least a few made their money off of the backs of others, being ruthless in business, etc. How gracious of them to give money to people they hurt in the first place. I'm glad they are doing good, but let's not pretend they were completely altruistic. Also, a number of these people donated money years ago to avoid taxes, and the money was invested and…

Imagine an analog of such a ranking from 300 years ago. "Which of our Gracious Lords are doing the moste Good?"

Creator here. Joke is indeed A+ funny.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#115

Post by ztratar » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 9:58 PM UTC

janpot wrote: post #50

Not impressed in the least. Donating some money is easy if you own more that you can ever spend in a lifetime. Would be way more interested in which billionaires are doing the most harm.

I didn't want to make a site centered around shaming / punishment / anger.

I think it's a valid thing to make that data public though.

Lmk if you build the site.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#116

Post by ztratar » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 9:59 PM UTC

Simulacra wrote: post #106

Something feels almost PR spin about this. “No, look, see, billionaires Are doing good!” I can’t help be feel suspect about this website.

What would make it feel less like that?

I was at first making it a lifetime-oriented ranking, but that felt like "shame these specific people!"

I think there's a middle-ground between celebration and shame that I'm trying to hit.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#117

Post by ztratar » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 10:00 PM UTC

dandigangi wrote: post #40

Interesting site but they frequently use those donations for tax purposes and moving money around in particular ways to get it back (outside of just taxes).

Do you have real data on that?

I see that argument everywhere, but haven't found substantial proof.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#118

Post by ztratar » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 10:01 PM UTC

Creator here - didn't know this was posted! Was going to launch tomorrow lol.

Anyways, here's the launch blog post: https://www.zachtratar.com/introducing-billionaire-board.htm...

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#119

Post by ztratar » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 10:07 PM UTC

0xebfc wrote: post #46

Since the angle this website introduces itself with is: "These are the world's most powerful people. Let's track their impact & inspire them to do more good" This doesn't seem like a good motivator, because doing something for the sake of reputation doesn't directly incentivize solving a problem in an effective way. And w.r.t. the title of the post, it seems like there are a few steps critical steps being omitted in…

Thoughtful perspective!

This is the v1 of the site and I'm looking to improve it.

- How can I make it more neutral? - Is it sometimes worthwhile to simply accelerate the deployment of capital? Can you combine the two incentives?

My mindset, to be clear, is that we want more people to strive to be like Bill Gates with their wealth. Even determining who that is right now is extraordinarily difficult. Making the data public is step #1, and then figuring out how to help them leverage philanthropy effectively is step #2.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#120

Post by munk-a » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 10:07 PM UTC

ztratar wrote: post #112

munk-a wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd really like to talk to any designer that endorsed this site because there are three titles - One top-title (annoyingly in all-small) one caption title in title case (Well done on it's own but quite conflicted against the all-small over-title) and then an additional sub-title that is, unaccountably, placed after a social media callout... in other words placed in a position after the thing everyone ignores... Also…

I'm the designer. And engineer, etc. :P Sorry, which are the three titles? I see "billionaire board" and "Top donors this month" as two, but what's the third? Will put the caps in sync!

Specifically I'd consider the main title to be: "billionaire board" the title caption to be "These are the world's most powerful people. Let's track their impact & inspire them to do more good, starting with COVID-19." and the subtitle "Top donors this month" - on further reading it looks like this might work a lot better if the subtitle was considered a content title in the case where there were multiple content blocks each with a separate ranking or grouping that needs description.