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I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

mrmoneymustache.com

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Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#11

Post by olliesaunders »

metronegative wrote: post #9

Not being familiar with this guy's work, what's so honest about getting in bed with credit card companies and feeding them more signups? Selling lead generation for credit cards seems a little dishonest to begin with.

I want to agree with you. Could you be specific about what exactly is dishonest here and why?

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#12

Post by speg »

metronegative wrote: post #9

Not being familiar with this guy's work, what's so honest about getting in bed with credit card companies and feeding them more signups? Selling lead generation for credit cards seems a little dishonest to begin with.

Presumably his readers are smart enough to get a deal. He mentions using Google Calander to cancel cards before fees kick in. So I assume he's not selling his readers down the river, but helping them 'hack' the system.

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#14

Post by alanfalcon »

Smudge wrote: post #7
crikli wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your simile doesn't work. One needs a driver's license to drive. One does not need a credit card to make purchases. And getting card actually can be a bad financial decision as too many cards can negatively affect a credit score.

But not having any credit cards can also negatively affect your credit score.

And not having a credit score can be a wonderful way to live life.

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#15

Post by anthonyb »

mschalle wrote: post #3

Integrity > money

Is this where I point out that this happens all the time, even on HN? And you very rarely hear about it?

One of my submissions got flagged by the mods last night, I'm assuming purely because my project is called "Shithead". (Am I going to change the name? Hell no :) )

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#16

Post by metronegative »

olliesaunders wrote: post #11
metronegative wrote: post #9

Not being familiar with this guy's work, what's so honest about getting in bed with credit card companies and feeding them more signups? Selling lead generation for credit cards seems a little dishonest to begin with.

I want to agree with you. Could you be specific about what exactly is dishonest here and why?

I am having trouble phrasing it but.... a long time ago I had the opportunity to make lots of money through a popular Facebook game I created. OfferPal was interested in having me sell credit card leads. I didn't like the idea of irresponsible younger people signing up for credit cards and giving their personal information out and accumulating debt just to get more XP in my game so.... I declined. This guy did that but then took the high ground and reversed. Not because he didn't like selling leads but because he valued his freedom of expression more.

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#17

Post by anthonyb »

alanfalcon wrote: post #14
Smudge wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But not having any credit cards can also negatively affect your credit score.

And not having a credit score can be a wonderful way to live life.

Until you need to borrow money for a car or a house...

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#19

Post by SeanOC »

metronegative wrote: post #16
olliesaunders wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to agree with you. Could you be specific about what exactly is dishonest here and why?

I am having trouble phrasing it but.... a long time ago I had the opportunity to make lots of money through a popular Facebook game I created. OfferPal was interested in having me sell credit card leads. I didn't like the idea of irresponsible younger people signing up for credit cards and giving their personal information out and accumulating debt just to get more XP in my game so.... I declined. This guy did that b…

I think the key difference here is the audience. Offering credit cards to college kids is very different than offering cards to a more mature audience. Especially when you've been teaching that audience how to use credit cards as what they are, tools.

There's also a significant difference here in that in your situation, you would have been providing the rewards and you would have had power to artificially manipulate the value of those rewards (make it harder to win your game without reward points. Here, the author doesn't provide the rewards he is simply stating what offers the credit card companies themselves are making.

At the end of the day, there is certainly still a moral hazard here but it is also a very different situation than the one you described.

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#20

Post by dinkumthinkum »

Since when did $4,000 a month become "FU Money." Is that serious? If you make $4K a month after taxes, I'd say you have a pretty small salary to just be honest with you. The article, I suppose, was about more than this but much of it spent so much time talking about how much money this is.

I don't want any of the younger HNers around here to get the wrong idea, as I didn't really know when I was younger, this is not, in any sense, "FU money."

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