[JMStewy]

That last line seems a bit uncalled for.

I commend the entrepreneurial traits this man showed, but I don't see how you can simply dismiss the fact that he's profiting from a tragedy-of-the-commons situation. Just because there are some good things about his attitude doesn't mean he can't be criticized.

This story isn't really about the wealth-producing sort of entrepreneurialism that I come to HN for, so I'm not surprised there are negative comments on this post.

[jcc80]

Obviously I thought it was called for. Some people are criticizing because it's "illegal" and therefor wrong. Someone below brought up how GrubWithUs illegally inserted flyers into daily papers and they were praised for being scrappy. Another mentioned the legal grey areas of startups like Uber or Airbnb.

And you're right this story is different than the norm on HN. I wanted to relate those criticizing to something they understand like patent trolls who try to rip others down or someone criticizing another for going for it while they sit behind a desk for 40 years implementing 1% of someone else's vision. My point was that maybe they should be rooting for the person that goes for it whether it's a SV startup or selling widgets on the street.

[gerggerg]

"rooting for the person that goes for it" is an example prime of a subjective statement. Do you not think that patent trolls perceive themselves as "going for it"?

[jcc80]

I think they do. But, I also think you're probably smart enough to know what I meant.