Why are we not ostracizing free riders on this board?

[luxfelix]

Relevant: Check out "Nosedive" episode of Black Mirror... 

[Freedomind]

Why would you want to osticize people who believe, or are interested in the same philosophy as you simply because they can't, or won't, toss out a few bucks? Philosophy is far greater than money and anyone who is interesten in freedom and truth should be welcomed with open arms. I know Stef even makes the argument that one should be donating for the value they recieve here but if they financially can't thats no reason to ostricize them for it. they can contribute value in other ways, like learning and speading our shared values and philosophy. I don't see the problem. I could afford a few bucks one day so I donated but I was a fan and member before that. Should I have been osticized too?

[killian]

What constitutes a "free rider"?

I do not have a lot of posts on here because it's hard for me to find threads I have a worthy response to without being redundant.

 

I check the forums probably only a few times each month because I simply don't have any time. There's only one time I donated a small amount and I've bought the books written by Stefan.

 

Why should I be purged? Each day I spend working so I can save up some money in order to be able to get a job later and pay for trade school now. I would argue the case that by donating less and infrequently now, I would be way more valuable further down the line when my financial situation is way more secure.

 

That being said, I do get exposed to good ideas which I spread around as much as possible. I live according to my ideals and hope to show people through example. According to your examples I am however, a "free rider".

 

Sorry for the rant, I'm in the bus right now and I really wanted to add my two cents.

[mgggb]

So we've all heard the argument for how ostracizing solves the problem of the free rider.

 

And we do have the problem of free riders on the board.

 

So why don't we ostracize free riders on the board? We certainly have the ability to do so with down votes, so why don't we?

 

There is an ignore option you can configure in the settings, it works quite well. 

 

As for free riders being a problem on this board, I can't say they are. Digital goods are an infinite sum game. There are server costs, but a single person using the site without contributing financially is insignificant. However, by offering it for free many more people use it than if there were a pay wall and some do end up paying, probably more than if it were a p2p site.

[Frohicky1]

As with free-to-play games, the free riders provide the environment is which the subscribers can enjoy themselves you need us.

[os.motic]

On 4/22/2016 at 4:26 AM, Guest Gee said:

So we've all heard the argument for how ostracizing solves the problem of the free rider.

 

And we do have the problem of free riders on the board.

 

So why don't we ostracize free riders on the board? We certainly have the ability to do so with down votes, so why don't we?

What is this in reference to?