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The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

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Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#231

Post by littlecranky67 »

subscribed wrote: post #230
littlecranky67 wrote: post #4

> A regular provider charges a regular commission but will not work with you, while another will want a commission 10 times higher and will agree, but may stop working with you at any time. I know I will get downvoted for this because it is an unpopular opinion, but this exactly the reason why we need bitcoin as a means of payments without any middlemen involved.

Bitcoin is probably the worst choice you could make. Public to the point of the transaction getting linked to your identity at some point, crazy inefficient in terms of energy use, very very slow and crazy expensive. There are so many better ways to use crypto to pay for things and you decided to suggest bitcoin?

There are three older threads down into which I mention lightning - which preserves privacy and is still bitcoin -just a layer 2 network. Why is everybody on HN stuck on Bitcoin knowledge from 2021? In 2026 you can even send stablecoins - such as USDT - over Lightning backend by bitcoins taproot asset management protol - no other blockchain except bitcoin involved.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#232

Post by owenversteeg »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #129
Maxatar wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I mean, you also can't advertise illegal drugs either. Doesn't seem to curb demand though. Making drugs illegal does not eliminate demand, but it absolutely curbs it. The converse is also true, for example legalizing cannabis in Canada has significantly increased demand for it [1]. While it's true cannabis use had been gradually increasing for decades prior to legalization, there was a significant spike afterwards w…

> The converse is also true, for example legalizing cannabis in Canada has significantly increased demand for it The relevant thing that link actually says is that more survey respondents admitted to cannabis use after legalization, the obvious problem being that before legalization they would be admitting to a crime, which will suppress response rates. The same link also points out that the legalization happened rig…

Oh come on. Weed use and addiction has absolutely surged since legalization everywhere I'm aware of - US states, Canada, other countries etc. Use everywhere / anytime / as a part of daily life has been completely normalized, it's not uncommon to see people hitting a weed vape in the middle of a work day. Not to mention the potency is far higher and this has been normalized, so one incidence of cannabis use is essentially a mind-blasting wave of THC vs. a casual joint with friends. It would be as if you went from say 12% of Canadians having two beers after work to a fifth of vodka. That the median casual dose in 2026 would have the median casual user in 2016 literally incoherent is undisputed among any weed smoker today.

>The relevant thing that link actually says is that more survey respondents admitted to cannabis use after legalization, the obvious problem being that before legalization they would be admitting to a crime, which will suppress response rates.

Sure, except Canada had legal medicinal weed since 2001 and everyone was aware that police attitudes towards it were very lax. There were even technically-illegal weed stores that the Canadian government took years to shut down. The number of people that lied to a pollster because they thought that the government would get them was almost certainly minimal. The fact that the trend is pretty smooth before/after the boundary confirms this.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#233

Post by ball_of_lint »

scelerat wrote: post #203
ball_of_lint wrote: post #152

Author makes a point badly, but there is an important point here. It's really strange that we de-facto allow the few large credit card networks (Visa, Mastercard) to effectively impose their own particular views and values on what sorts of businesses can process payments. The stigma+roadblocks against these "high-risk categories" generally doesn't come from the processors (like Stripe, Adyen), but are actually driven…

It's not that credit card companies have some kind of moral bone to pick, it is that the legal, logistical and political morass of dealing with the variety of state and national laws, definitions of porn, protections of children and non-consenting performers, etc. are such that it is not worth it for them to pursue. Similar issues exist for, e.g., companies and sites selling legal THC and THC products.

That might be part of it, but I don't think it's the only or primary motivation. But we don't really get to know.

They can and have used this power to effectively censor legal content. I don't think this sort of power is something that a private entity should hold. Being able to refuse service is fine for a random restaurant when there's 10 other options available, much less so for a duopoly that provides a key facet of modern life.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#234

Post by gwbas1c »

redanddead wrote: post #159
fasterik wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also been shocked by the censoriousness around gambling in particular on HN recently. I feel like this is filtering in from some culture war that I'm not exposed to as a part of my information diet.

Hmm.. I've had some customers be gamblers. It's kind of sad to see. These are like middle aged dads of various economic classes that are desperately chasing a high when they should be focused on their families. To me, gambling and porn are yet more strains on the most important social institution: the family. It's fun, but it's bad for society, for those who care about that

If it's not gambling, it'll be something else: video games, alcohol, drugs, religion, work... Anyone can turn anything into a vice to the detriment of their family.

Don't blame the vice, blame the person.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#235

Post by subscribed »

littlecranky67 wrote: post #231
subscribed wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin is probably the worst choice you could make. Public to the point of the transaction getting linked to your identity at some point, crazy inefficient in terms of energy use, very very slow and crazy expensive. There are so many better ways to use crypto to pay for things and you decided to suggest bitcoin?

There are three older threads down into which I mention lightning - which preserves privacy and is still bitcoin -just a layer 2 network. Why is everybody on HN stuck on Bitcoin knowledge from 2021? In 2026 you can even send stablecoins - such as USDT - over Lightning backend by bitcoins taproot asset management protol - no other blockchain except bitcoin involved.

You said bitcoin, not lighting - you don't seriously expect me to trawl through all your posts in sibling threads to try to guess that you said one thing and meant another?

And you seem to be really really convinced that bitcoin is the way, by going the quite a length and bringing some contraptions to say they're bitcoin-based solutions somewhat providing what other coins/network already offer - better.

And concerning lightning, it only "preserves privacy" when you're extremely careful with how you use it: https://stateofsurveillance.org/articles/technical/lightning...

Still the worst idea.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#236

Post by littlecranky67 »

subscribed wrote: post #235
littlecranky67 wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are three older threads down into which I mention lightning - which preserves privacy and is still bitcoin -just a layer 2 network. Why is everybody on HN stuck on Bitcoin knowledge from 2021? In 2026 you can even send stablecoins - such as USDT - over Lightning backend by bitcoins taproot asset management protol - no other blockchain except bitcoin involved.

You said bitcoin, not lighting - you don't seriously expect me to trawl through all your posts in sibling threads to try to guess that you said one thing and meant another? And you seem to be really really convinced that bitcoin is the way, by going the quite a length and bringing some contraptions to say they're bitcoin-based solutions somewhat providing what other coins/network already offer - better. And concernin…

The threads are literally 3 lines down, mate.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#237

Post by itake »

3form wrote: post #215
itake wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> helps in managing sexual needs There are plenty of "sexual needs" that society says "no, you can't satisfy them." (for example, Nguyễn Xuân Đạt). I don't think sexual needs are needs that can't be managed without media. > educational: whether it is about workings of sex I find when a partner characterizes porn, the sex is worse... Maybe other people enjoy the sounds or behaviors seen in the videos, but not for me.

>I don't think sexual needs are needs that can't be managed without media. Of course they can, but it still helps - that's why I used that wording. Also replacement of one sex need with another feels more viable than with other needs, given how the chemical machinery of the body seems to work. > I find when a partner characterizes porn, the sex is worse... Maybe other people enjoy the sounds or behaviors seen in the…

The media projects that gay conversion initiatives fail at steering the ship the other direction. Governments (and society) expect personal repression and do not allow for outlets or replacements.

(for the record, these ideas I'm writing about are not my own, but my observations as a member of the society. I wish these topics were less taboo, but it is what it is.)

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#238

Post by zbentley »

Legend2440 wrote: post #120
nickflw wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So true. I wish alcohol, tobacco, gun and insurance companies and their employees faced the same stigma.

One of these things is not like the others. Insurance is a tool for spreading risk, and modern society could not operate without it.

Yes, but the incentives created by that system lead to insurance adjudicators operating with extreme adversariality towards the insured. Add to that the extreme inelasticity of demand for insured products (e.g. healthcare, or getting access to a car to use to commute after one is totaled), regulatory capture of insured products/services by insurers, and time, and you get pretty toxic systems wherein insurers exert upwards price pressure without significant checks.
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