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Comment by horsawlarway | Hacker News Reader

I have no problem with using Slack or Hangouts or Discord or some other chat solution while at work. I also tend to use discord/steam for throw-away conversation with friends.

At no point did I appeal to authority or history in my argument above, so drop the shit around

> "Lo it was handed down to us by Postel the Wise, and none shall tamper with His choices."

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If you think Chat apps are winning, let me know when you can buy an item online without an account linked to an Email. I'd love to see an example.

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> drop the shit around

You jumped into a discussion. The person I replied to was treating the email we happen to have as some sort of unchangeable given. That's what I am objecting to. If you are disavowing that side of his argument, feel free to say so, but it looks to me like you lean pretty heavily on it.

> let me know when you can buy an item online without an account linked to an Email. I'd love to see an example.

You mean aside from the billion or so users of WeChat Pay?

> It's not a replacement, it's a complement

> [Chat apps] can work great in a well structured environment

> Use each as needed

> I also tend to use discord/steam for throw-away conversation with friends

Yes, clearly I'm only advocating for the use of email in its current form for all communication, see me lean so hard above?

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Wechat might as well be the Chinese government, and it requires a Chinese/Hong Kong bank account to use Wechat Pay. If the government won't honor your transaction record, keeping a copy yourself isn't very useful...

> If you think Chat apps are winning, let me know when you can buy an item online without an account linked to an Email. I'd love to see an example.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

Sure, but it's limited to mobile numbers where an sms provides the same value as a proof of record. That's why it's limited to mobile phones.

And SMS operates with the same functional principle as email - I own the text after receiving it, and can use it as needed.

> If you think Chat apps are winning, let me know when you can buy an item online without an account linked to an Email. I'd love to see an example.

You can do pretty much anything you want in WeChat, and you don't need an email.

Ok, this one is entirely fair, but also I'd argue the circumstances around it are a little different.

Given how tightly integrated wechat is with the chinese government, and the restriction of wechat pay to use with folks who have a Chinese/Hong Kong bank account, we're talking about different levels of utility around preserving the record.

If the government chooses not to honor your transaction record, it doesn't really matter if you have a copy yourself.

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