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Comment by grkvlt | Hacker News Reader

> If you stop to listen to a musician or street performer for more than a minute, you owe them a dollar

if i am a child, with no money, or am un- or underemployed with very little money in the form of disposable income, then this advice is not actually actionable.

not to mention that it is also wrong - you do not owe the street performer anything, no matter how long you stop and listen for. they are not entitled to anything just because they made a choice to perform in a public place. and this is not to suggest i have never, or will not in future, donate to buskers etc. - but it is always an active choice...

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The advice was aiming at the moral level. You missed that completely, unfortunately.

> they are not entitled to anything just because they made a choice to perform in a public place.

And you are making a choice of whether or not you support them if you found so much pleasure in listening to them that you chose to spend over a minute listening to them instead of walking past them. You are entitled to just move on. Whether it's the right thing to do is a different question and only for yourself to decide.

no, the bit about having no money was a response to a claim that the advice was 'actionable' and i pointed out a situation where in believed it was not actionable dute to practical financial constraints.

however, my statement about entitlements of the performer being non existant along with the listener having no obligation to pay the performer because they stayed for some amount of time, was made on an moral level. i also believe it is a morally 'good' thing to compensate the performer if they provide you with entertainment, i just do not believe there is any obligation placed on you to do this by the performer. like you say, it is for me alone as the listener to decide. i objected to the use of the word 'owe' in the advice, basically.

hopefully that's a bit clearer...

>no, the bit about having no money was a response to a claim that the advice was 'actionable' and i pointed out a situation where in believed it was not actionable dute to practical financial constraints

The advice is not about giving 1 USD. The advice is to giving something back in return. It does not have to be money. A thank you, applause, a hat off, a flower or a heartly smile will do.

Yes, that is clearer, thanks.

> i objected to the use of the word 'owe' in the advice, basically.

I suppose the original post does not state the "owing" in an absolute sense but as a recommendation to shape your morals so that they include that it's good to feel that something should be returned. Using the word "owe" for that is suitable, though it does not mean that everybody you see in the situation would "owe" money to the performer.

It's easily actionable: if you can't pay the dollar, don't listen to the music.

(Or, ignore the advice, if you disagree. That's fine too! But that's not the fault of it being non-actionable).

Kinda silly since buskers usually perform at places where people are usually anyway (such as a train platform) and I can't turn off my ears.

"Hanging out somewhere where there happens to be music played" is quite different from "listening". The advice only applies to the latter.

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