Use Jonathan's card to buy yourself an iPad • Hacker News Board

Re: Use Jonathan's card to buy yourself an iPad

#11

Post by philfreo » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 4:26 PM UTC

sequoia wrote: post #7

"Or am I alone in thinking that helping a stranger find their next caffeine fix is not what we should be worried about in today's world?" sigh This is such a silly, stupid point to make: Buying an iPad? What about world hunger!? Going to the movies? What about the modern slave trade!? Painting a picture? Women in Sudanese refugee camps can't go to the bathroom at night without fear of rape, and here you painting a pi…

Did you read the article? He is donating to a charity focused on world hunger...

Re: Use Jonathan's card to buy yourself an iPad

#12

Post by sequoia » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 4:28 PM UTC

nhangen wrote: post #6

Yeah, it's cool, but also nefarious, charity or not.

Not really... I don't think that the people who put money on the card have any claim to determine how the money is used. It's like giving a gift, once you give it you don't get to control it anymore, and they are giving a gift to an anonymous recipient. If they want to control how the money is spent... perhaps don't put it on a publicly accessible debit card? ;)

Re: Use Jonathan's card to buy yourself an iPad

#13

Post by aneth » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 4:28 PM UTC

This seems like an unauthorized use of the card and could be criminal theft. If I give you my stored value card to buy coffee and you instead steal all the money, it doesn't matter whether you're donating to charity or disagree with my cause - it's stealing.

Regardless, it's certainly a shitty thing to do.

Re: Use Jonathan's card to buy yourself an iPad

#14

Post by cssndrx » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 4:28 PM UTC

I'm probably going to get down-voted to hell, but I'm not sure what this counter experiment is trying to prove... we all already knew it is easy to take from Jonathan's card.

When people noticed that money was disappearing off Jonathan's card $100 at a time, most people thought it was an uninformed, karma-less nobody stealing from the card. It is incredible that the transactions are due to some educated do-gooder imposing his beliefs onto the donors of Jonathan's card.

I've read many of Sam's comments before, and respect them as thoughtful and intelligent. However, just because you don't like the idea of "yuppies buying yuppies coffee", doesn't mean that you should try to destroy Jonathan's card. Some people feel good and more connected with others by adding to and taking from Jonathan's card.

By taking money out of the system, you are in effect going against donors wishes and imposing your own beliefs on them. It is almost like taking from the vault of a charity that you dislike and giving the proceeds to your charity of choice. Its less atrocious than pocketing the money and buying an iPad, but obviously still bad.

EDIT: I feel sorry for Jonathan and his good intentions.

Re: Use Jonathan's card to buy yourself an iPad

#15

Post by gareim » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 4:29 PM UTC

philfreo wrote: post #11

sequoia wrote: post #7

"Or am I alone in thinking that helping a stranger find their next caffeine fix is not what we should be worried about in today's world?" sigh This is such a silly, stupid point to make: Buying an iPad? What about world hunger!? Going to the movies? What about the modern slave trade!? Painting a picture? Women in Sudanese refugee camps can't go to the bathroom at night without fear of rape, and here you painting a pi…

Did you read the article? He is donating to a charity focused on world hunger...

Did you read his comment? His point was that the OP seems to think we can't indulge ourselves occasionally and must always work towards solving those big problems. We're human. We should allow ourselves to have some fun once in a while.

Re: Use Jonathan's card to buy yourself an iPad

#16

Post by vidar » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 4:30 PM UTC

raganwald wrote: post #8

rrival wrote: post #4

Thought this was already revealed as a viral marketing campaign by starbucks: http://www.coffeestrategies.com/2011/08/08/starbucks-and-the... Not sure if that means there's more of a reason to exploit it or not, at least Sam's doing it for good =)

There are people who may or may not wear tinfoil hats who have shared circumstantial evidence suggesting this. Jonathan, his friends, and Starbucks have all denied this is the case. My experience is that when confronted with the evidence, the people behind “viral marketing campaigns" have no trouble ‘fessing up, they usually boast of it and use it to drum up more business for their “social media agencies.” A company…

I kind of agree with your point, but saying that the Starbucks brand takes a "huge" hit is a bit of an overstatement.

Re: Use Jonathan's card to buy yourself an iPad

#17

Post by carbonica » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 4:31 PM UTC

mrcharles wrote: post #3

100k wrote: post #2

I'm Starbucks illiterate. How did they transfer the value from Jonathan's card to theirs?

I assume they bought physical gift cards in store.

Close - they bought one gift card, and then used Starbucks' website to transfer the money from Jonathan's card to their own.

Re: Use Jonathan's card to buy yourself an iPad

#18

Post by sp332 » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 4:33 PM UTC

gareim wrote: post #15

philfreo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you read the article? He is donating to a charity focused on world hunger...

Did you read his comment? His point was that the OP seems to think we can't indulge ourselves occasionally and must always work towards solving those big problems. We're human. We should allow ourselves to have some fun once in a while.

That's not the context of the quote. He's wondering if people will bid over the face value of the card, or if no one thinks that charity is more important than caffeine. He's not dissing on Jonathan's Card, he's wondering about his auction.

Re: Use Jonathan's card to buy yourself an iPad

#19

Post by sequoia » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 4:34 PM UTC

philfreo wrote: post #11

sequoia wrote: post #7

"Or am I alone in thinking that helping a stranger find their next caffeine fix is not what we should be worried about in today's world?" sigh This is such a silly, stupid point to make: Buying an iPad? What about world hunger!? Going to the movies? What about the modern slave trade!? Painting a picture? Women in Sudanese refugee camps can't go to the bathroom at night without fear of rape, and here you painting a pi…

Did you read the article? He is donating to a charity focused on world hunger...

Yeah I think that's great. Honestly I think it's awesome how he's redirecting this money from Starbucks to a worthwhile cause. BUT he can do that without the holier-than-thou attitude; the latter is not a requirement for the former. :)

Basically I've heard that line before ("how can you X when Y is going on in the world??") and it's basically just a way to feel morally superior and boost your ego, it doesn't actually achieve a useful end. You can use this line on basically anything people are doing that can be considered art, and unless you're suggesting that all artful pursuits be indefinitely suspended until the world is free of problems, it's an inconsistent, nonsensical argument.

tl;dr: I like the project, I dislike the attitude.

Re: Use Jonathan's card to buy yourself an iPad

#20

Post by Udo » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 4:34 PM UTC

So essentially you're proud of stealing huge amounts of money from a fund set up by people for a specific purpose, and then you channel this money to suit your own needs while claiming moral superiority?

You know, even if the money you stole for "the little children OMG think of the children" really reaches the intended recipients, which it probably won't if this is a typical 3rd world development fund, you still betrayed everybody's trust and you're actually proud of it.

Sam Odio is either the worst kind of stealing hypocrite out there, or he's genuinely living in a cardboard box under a bridge giving all his money away to charity. I think I can guess which one is the case.

I apologize for the tone of this post, but the sheer amount of arrogant jerkiness on display here actually makes me angry; and that's saying something.

On the plus side, I suppose now we know who kept on abusing the card (people were wondering in other threads).