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Comment by microsoftedging | Hacker News Reader

Interesting take, but I don't agree with it personally. Personally, messages like the aforementioned:

> Did you like this post, please buy me a coffee?

are completely okay! I don't interpret it as 'begging me for my money'. They are not nagging, and you do not have to buy them a coffee/pizza/metaphorical food item. You can go on with your day. But maybe someone thinks that the post deserves a token of appreciation, and tossing someone one, maybe two euros doesn't hurt. Just like tipping. Good = no tip, exceptional = tip.

> I know how much 4€ is, that's about two icecreams, or three beers. Off topic, but is OP finding these? Are certain countries in Europe really this cheap??

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I’m not gravely irked by it, but it does sometimes distract you from the content of the blog post you just read. Similar to “you might also be interested in […]” footers and the like. I’d prefer writings to not be bookended or interrupted by stuff that isn’t directly related to the contents of the article, as to not distract one’s flow of thought from the reading.

If I want to donate, I’d look at the blog’s About page. Placing it on every article page does come across to some extent as trying to increase donations.

These "buy me a coffee" buttons make me feel guilty, similar to being shamed into tipping. I'll make a buy/don't decision when I see the cost upfront. Everyone makes choices on how they earn their living, I'm just saying these things make me uncomfortable and I wish there was a better way.

It's fine to say that begging is ok. I also think it can be ok. It's even possible to call this not begging if you believe that it lacks non-reciprocity (personally I don't think so, but anyway). But it feels like you have a very weird definition of begging based on the rest of your description.

> They are not nagging

Begging and harassment are two different unrelated things that are sometimes done at the same time but not necessarily.

See the difference between

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggressive_panhandling

> you do not have to buy them a coffee/pizza/metaphorical food item.

Yeah, that's how begging works. You do not have to give money to the person begging.

> You can go on with your day.

Yes, that's how begging works. If they had you at gunpoint it would be called robbing.

Not a native English speaker, so I may be far off on this discussion, but for me this kind of activity where you write a blog post and ask for donations is closer to busking than to begging.

I think that's certainly a reasonable view and the question becomes whether one believes busking to also be begging.

> I know how much 4€ is, that's about two icecreams, or three beers.

Yes this also stuck out the most to me haha. That's like the tax&tip for a single beer if you are sitting down to dine in NYC now

A bar in my Italian family's hometown sells beers for one or two Euros a pop. The gelateria down the street charges a bit more for ice cream, though.

€4 will maybe get you a glass/ladies' pint here in Ireland smh

Italy is a very economically diverse place. I haven't seen anyone sell beer at 2 euro a glass in two decades in my corner of Italy. The beers I was drinking last night were €5 or €6 (small northern city)

4€ will get you two (pretty small by US standards) scoops of ice cream or three beers in a shop in Germany. In a cheap bar, you might get a beer for 4€ though the average is much closer to 5€ these days.

Sounded cheap, but I just checked with my local supermarket (France, west of Paris). 70 cents for a 25 cl Heineken.

OP is off on costs, motivations and attitude. In a nutshell selfish person lashes out, assumes all side income is gravy.

Shoe on the other foot, some people are having major financial struggles... are they best to say "buy me a coffee" or "oh shit, help"?

Begging is so disgusting that even beggars are not happy to do it bluntly, until they're on the streets.

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