[Michie]

@devoply, I think the best term to describe akjainaj is a parasite. A parasite is an organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense.

Based from his response here, I think he is just a troll.

[devoply]

He has a point, consumer psychology is set up this way. As entrepreneurs we have to understand it and deal with it.

[akjainaj]

Most businesses of all sectors use all kinds of techniques to maximise consumption from customers, some of them very shady. Billions are poured into behavioural studies of customers and voodoo tricks so people spend money on stuff sometimes they don't even need.

As a customer, I feel entitled to take advantage of everything I can. I don't understand the negativity around it. Us consumers have a salary each month, and we are supposed to get everything we can out of it. It's that simple.

[fapjacks]

Absolutely this. Businesses have honed to great effect their ability to extract money from people. It's just the yang of capitalism that people extract as much as possible from businesses at the lowest price possible (or free).

[akjainaj]

I don't see how I'm trolling here.

For example, I run Spotify with an ad blocker, so I don't have to pay for it. And years ago, when they limited the amount of minutes of music you could listen to every month, I made tons of accounts to bypass that limitation. Why? Because, in the unlikely case they go out of business, by then some other service would've appeared, run by someone who thinks he won't commit the same mistakes the owners of the previous service made.

Common sense says my system of abandoning/taking services is not sustainable in the long term, but by now it hasn't failed me. And I'm also sure a sizable percent of people do the same I do. Am I a troll just because I'm open about it?

[sireat]

You do have a point, shipping 50lbs of pet food for free was not sustainable for pets.com in 2000 but one could hardly fault customers for taking advantage of such foolishness.

Let's set aside any moral/ethical implications of ab/using free services for a moment.

The problem for you as a customer is that once the service closes it might take some time to find a new service.

Second, your time is valuable too. Making multiple free accounts to save $10 a month is an activity which might make perfect sense for a poor college student but would draw comparisons with Mr. Burns if you are a middle-aged high wage earner.

It took a while for amazon.com to get into pet food business.

When del.icio.us became slow and uncared for it took some time for me to find pinboard .

[bluedino]

At what point is it not acceptable to use free accounts or discounts?

[Michie]

Ok let me correct that. I thought you were just trolling. But you're really a parasite.

As defined: a person who habitually relies on or exploits others and gives nothing in return.

It's ok to use free services, to abuse them, especially if you are not capable of paying. It's understandable. A lot of people do that. But to be honest in saying that you don't really care about the company failing or if they go bankrupt for whatever reason even if you are an avid user because a new service will pop up that is free. Seems to be morally wrong.

Your reasoning also shows that you don't have your own company or you're not a developer creating or selling softwares. Because if you are, you would be afraid of people like you who will abuse your company the way you are abusing it now. This is just an assumption. I might be wrong.