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Comment by Etheryte | Hacker News Reader

This argument doesn't really make any sense. Why would anyone be loyal to one specific vendor when, as you say, there's many comparable alternatives available? You don't intentionally buy food at the most expensive store just to make the store more sustainable/profitable, do you?

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> You don't intentionally buy food at the most expensive store just to make the store more sustainable/profitable, do you?

I do regularly; I don’t know if it’s the most expensive, but it’s absolutely not the cheapest. However, it’s a small market just a few blocks walk away and a small business and I value the proximity of it to my home so would like to see it continue to exist.

I think the decision should be reframed as: am I trying to spend as little as possible, or maximize value, which aren’t always the same thing.

comprehension in the mud. speed to keyboard ftw! the glaring contradiction doesn’t seem to even register:

(a) i do (ie intentionally buy from the most expensive store) (b) i don’t know if it’s the most expensive but it’s absolutely not the cheapest. (i.e. maybe i don’t, in fact)

Personally agree with you (and FWIW I operate the same way). However,

> a small market just a few blocks walk away and a small business and I value the proximity of it to my home

This indicates that the alternatives are not completely equivalent.

Exactly. This is just an example of valuing service (proximity, owners we sympathize with) over and above the product they carry. Nothing wrong with it.

Yeah, agree with you. I also like going to a local farmers market. Because of proximity, familiarity, the idea of supporting local businesses, quality, etc. I feel none of that for Silicon Valley Webapps. You’re cheaper and better, I subscribe, your competition gets better and cheaper, I am out.

This is a very (financially) privileged position. Most of humanity does not have the disposable income to subsidize businesses.

Well, one might make the case that;

cost = travel + item

In which case a corner store is, in total, more cost effective.

I will but only if it's motivated by some moral/ethical calculus. If it's just a product I kind of like then I'm out of there

That's fair.

I’d switch for a comparable product at a better price point. If there isn’t a comp (I’m not sure in this case), then I don’t get complaining about prices going up for a cloud service at a reasonable rate if you want that service to be around in the long run.

That said I do pay more for organic locally grown produce. Personal choice because those local tomatoes are banging

> You don't intentionally buy food at the most expensive store just to make the store more sustainable/profitable, do you?

I do, actually, because I want my local natural foods co-op to stay in business.

But your point still stands. The alternatives aren't actually comparable, because they're for-profit entities, and I don't want my food budget going to them.

It's one thing to support your local grocer and totally different to support a company with multiple millions in VC funding, especially when they company doesn't even offer you much advantage (Lisp features)

If you care if they’re around tomorrow, then yes you would.

Otherwise you end up hopping between services that start out free, no strings attached and then turn to crap.

There’s more to the comparison than price.

It doesn't usually take you 1-3 months to master eating food from the other store, whereas a language/platform is a major investment of your time. And you become a part of a community that helps each other, so making sure the community thrives is a worthwhile investment (hopefully greater than whatever you're paying monthly / what you spend comes back to you in opportunities).

And we wonder why tech has a monopoly problem?

Could you expand on that?

Not sure of OP's reasoning, but...

If you're trying to start an actual business, it's very very difficult to get people to pay for your solution when a large incumbent can just pay people to use their competitive (potentially sub-standard) product by burning through mountains of, (sometimes not even their own), money. Or once you start to gain some traction, deplatform you from social/search, or bury you in frivolous lawsuits. It can be done, it's just not very straightforward (unless you also already have your own mountains of cash, or are very well connected). But, business is business, so sink or swim?

Otherwise, it's much easier to ride someone else's huge marketing budget (Apple App Store, WordPress plugins, ChatGPT etc.), which doesn't change the competitive landscape and gives those incumbents even more power (merchants/developers/creators touched by the platform's Midas finger become dependent on the platform because it's their income, then their users buy further into the parent system, etc.).

That was a pretty bad example. Grocery stores often pressure farmers to make harsh discounts on bulk sales. I rather pay a bit more at the farmers market instead. Also, I rather buy organic when possible. People pay more for ethical reasons all the time.

But in this case if you don't agree with the price increase, as OP further justifies, I think it's totally fair to just go elsewhere.

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