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

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

#61

Post by randallsquared » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:26 PM UTC

Udo wrote: post #47

sequoia wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>On the plus side, I suppose now we know who kept on abusing the card (people were wondering in other threads). I'm betting most of the people abusing the card aren't sending the proceeds to charity...

Well, if he stole enough to buy an iPad, that's a large chunk of the missing money from the card right there. I'm willing to bet most of the other people stealing from the card aren't rich and successful YC graduate entrepreneurs either but somehow that makes what he did much worse in my opinion. He's also a rich guy lecturing people on how they should be donating every little bit of their excess money to charity. I'…

You aren't the only one. Stomping on other people's fun because you'd prefer they donate is deeply irritating. I haven't been able to read the article, yet, due to a 500 error, but whatever charity is receiving this should be upset that they're being associated with this asininity.

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

#62

Post by kingofspain » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:26 PM UTC

kingofspain wrote: post #50

The rich steal stealing from the rich to eventually pass a percentage on to the poor. I'm sure it seemed much more Robin Hood-y at the time. There are far less scummy ways to do something like this. Game a Bing promotion, take advantage of lax security in some other MegaCorp rewards programme - or gasp use your own money. Mind you, those guys are more likely to sue than a disparate bunch of well-meaning folks.

In my blinding e-rage I do seem to have forgotten about the 'social experiment' aspect of the card. I guess this could be interpreted as being fair game. I think the attitude that came across in the post makes it seem worse too. So I revise my pointless internet opinion to: hmmm ok, but still feels rotten.

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

#63

Post by jt2190 » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:26 PM UTC

Jonathan's Card claimed to be a social experiment, but it was never clear to me exactly what the experiment was supposed to test. As an outsider looking at this experiment, the first question I has was: How would he prevent unintended use of the card's funds?

Sam is just part of the experiment. Yes, he's spoiling the good fun of buying coffees for each other, but if it weren't him taking the money, it'd be someone else. At least we still have data on the where most of the money went.

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

#64

Post by sondh » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:26 PM UTC

I don'5 know who is OP but I believe what he did is wrong, both in legal ground and moral ground. Obviously Jonathan didn't allow him and his friends to transfer money off the card, is that enough to sue him? I'm no lawyer but I can't believe that's acceptable. Also, he misused the card + donate other people's money -- what did he think? And one last point, he said they did that many time but he only intended to donate that $600, what about the other attempts? Can we do something, please?

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

#65

Post by Karhan » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:28 PM UTC

cssndrx wrote: post #14

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 imp…

I agree with you except on one point. Sam is exactly the kind of person I thought was taking the money and I think most people probably suspected the same thing. I thought it was someone sitting around watching the twitter feed stealing money 150$ at a go. Someone who looked at this, possibly silly probably naive, social project and said 'This is stupid and I'm gonna show them how stupid it is.' I also knew that this person would eventually write a blog post about how smart they were for figuring out how to steal from people giving away money and how the project wasn't just foolish it was immoral.

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

#66

Post by ck2 » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:28 PM UTC

cache http://google.com/search?strip=1&q=cache:http%3A%2F%2Fsa...

why he's installing memcache for a single-server wordpress I have no clue - just install wp-super-cache and use .htaccess to do rewrites to static files - only way to bypass the (lack of) performance nightmare that is wordpress

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

#67

Post by geeksRus » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:29 PM UTC

aneth wrote: post #35

sequoia wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You no longer control the money once you donate it to an anonymous recipient! You don't get to choose how the money is spent. If you're not comfortable with that, don't put money on a publicly accessible debit card!!

I'm not sure that's the case here. It's not an anonymous recipient, it's Jonathan's stored value card and therefore Jonathan. Jonathan authorized anyone to use his card to buy coffee. He did not authorize anyone to steal his money. Another way to look at it is as a common fund dedicated to the purpose of buying coffee. Using it for anything else seems like embezzlement.

agreed and sharing the code ensures that others with more devious ambitions will pretty much ruin this experiment.

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

#68

Post by josscrowcroft » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:29 PM UTC

Triumvark wrote: post #34

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…

Eh, I found Jonathan's "Buying yuppies coffee will improve the world!" naivete far more offensive. I didn't see OP as criticizing frivolity, I saw him more criticizing Jonathan's suggestion that this game was meaningfully altruistic. Eye of the beholder I guess.

Not forgetting, of course, that it was all an elaborate (or not) marketing campaign by somebody connected to Starbucks.

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

#69

Post by zacharycohn » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:35 PM UTC

josscrowcroft wrote: post #68

Triumvark wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, I found Jonathan's "Buying yuppies coffee will improve the world!" naivete far more offensive. I didn't see OP as criticizing frivolity, I saw him more criticizing Jonathan's suggestion that this game was meaningfully altruistic. Eye of the beholder I guess.

Not forgetting, of course, that it was all an elaborate (or not) marketing campaign by somebody connected to Starbucks.

It wasn't. Jonathan denied it, Starbucks denied it. The "proof" was flimsy at best.

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

#70

Post by flocial » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:35 PM UTC

sequoia wrote: post #12

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? ;)

It's like a homeless guy taking a gift of food and selling it to buy drugs rather than eating because to him "drugs are more worthy"