[simondotau]

If that's really the reason, that's the most idiotic reason possible. So he "earned" a couple of Roadsters by spamming his referral code, and it turns out his free cars might be a decade late, and maybe not as awesome as promised?

Booo hooooo

[malfist]

> booo hoooo

If your employer said they'd pay you half a million if you worked for them, and then you did and they didn't pay you, I doubt you'd be dismissing it so frivolously

[simondotau]

Okay but that’s not remotely analogous. Leveraging an existing monetised readership for referral credits isn’t “work”.

[p_j_w]

1. What is it then?

2. If it’s not hard work, then why didn’t Tesla go out and do it themselves instead of mooching off someone else to do it?

[ImPostingOnHN]

> Leveraging an existing monetised readership for referral credits isn’t “work”.

it is literally a situation in which a business pays someone for doing a job (e.g. referring customers)

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

[malfist]

Then what is it?

[NewLogic]

It's called fraud, the editor was a victim of fraud. At least he clued on late I guess..

[simondotau]

Is it fraud if he paid $0 for non-existent roadsters? Referral credits are legal fictions, much like how Tesla Roadsters are physical fictions. Trading one fiction for another isn’t fraud, it’s cosplay.

[gruez]

>Is it fraud if he paid $0 for non-existent roadsters?

Is it fraud if you worked for a startup that promised you options, and then refused to honor/issue those said options? After all, because those options never existed, you also "paid $0 for non-existent [options]"?

[Dylan16807]

> Leveraging an existing monetised readership for referral credits isn’t “work”.

> Is it fraud if he paid $0 for non-existent roadsters?

How do you think readership gets monetised in the first place? The biggest way is ads, which includes referrals.

Do you dismiss paid ad placement the same way you dismiss referrals? If not, what makes it different?

> Referral credits are legal fictions

A promise for $100 of stuff isn't exactly the same as a promise for $100, but it's close. Debt is a "legal fiction" but that doesn't mean it's not legitimate, or that you can pretend it doesn't exist.

[simondotau]

> Do you dismiss paid ad placement the same way you dismiss referrals? If not, what makes it different?

The contract

[Dylan16807]

Referrals usually have a contract. I don't know what went wrong in this situation, but in general those systems are just as legally binding.

[fastball]

There was no guarantee of Roadster delivery date.