Same thing happened to me years ago: https://jakeseliger.com/2011/12/09/december-2011-links-paypa.... Why anyone uses Paypal today is beyond me. Why anyone doesn't expect this is really beyond me.
This does of course depend on where your customer base is. Credit cards are universal in the US, not so much internationally.
When buying locally you can usually pay by wire transfer or Swish, but otherwise PayPal is the least bad option (as a buyer).
you wouldn't have a paypal account otherwise.
and outside of the usa, most bank systems have ways to forward money based on other records. I've implemented a few in south American countries where by accepting CC from one operator you also get an optional printable invoice (boleto) that can be paid on the bank (online or not) and it transfer same day to your account.
> you wouldn't have a paypal account otherwise.
Sure, if I couldn't use it to pay for anything, I wouldn't have a Paypal account. I don't use Paypal to send money to friends or anything like that, just for (international) online payments.
> and outside of the usa, most bank systems have ways to forward money based on other records.
Sure, but those aren't generally accepted online, internationally.
For example, the vast majority of online payments in the Netherlands are done through iDEAL, but that only works for Dutch banks. Some (generally large) stores support it, but most don't.
Which seems odd to me. Credit cards offer the advantages of points/cashback and more importantly the Consumer Credit Act, such that the card issuer is jointly liable for the goods. I only use my debit card to withdraw cash as the protections and incentives with my credit cards are much better.
Credit cards have some perks, but they also have interest rates which debit cards do not. Many people would rather avoid getting into debt at all, because it can be very easy to go just over budget and end up paying more than you wanted, or getting locked in a debt spiral where you can't afford to pay off the growing interest.
Now I understand that being responsible is easier said than done, given various circumstance. I grew up without a lot money and my parents were pretty religious about budgeting cash weekly into envelopes, but even they eventually switched to using CCs and only spending what they had cash for. Too hard to pass up cash back on gas, groceries, bills, etc. Every little bit helps.
It is a legal responsibility upon the issuer, rather than a discretionary benefit. It is particularly beneficial when a retailer goes out of business; an undelivered or broken order will be refunded, whereas if the bill was paid by debit card you'd just be considered a creditor.
Although I stopped seeing it lately so I guess it was banned as well, most shops started rollout of their own or joint loyalty schemes with points, and they are very clear on that points are not money but x points equals certain amount of discount, which is funny to watch but it is essentially a loophole around this law once again.
HN uses rel=nofollow links so he's not posting links as part of some SEO plan. Cursory review of his previous comments shows he links to other sites more often than his own. It makes sense someone would often post links to their own blog though - if they're interested in a topic, they're likely to both comment on and blog about it.
Do not make us aware
Copy paste, and someone will likely say [citation needed]
Paraphrase
Etc...
Where relevancy is high, links make sense.
I'm shocked you're essentially chastising someone for having their own domain and publishing articles on it they then link to. If anything we should be encouraging this behavior.