[fc417fc802]

> But if I did so for scalping purposes? Then yeah, I'd agree it's unethical.

Is scalping actually unethical though? Sure it's unpopular, but I'd argue that's just your average person not properly grasping supply and demand and thinking through the consequences. If you want to sell something below market then you should raffle it off and take extensive measures to prevent transfer of ownership. The current practice is trying to pretend it's an open market while fixing the price, then getting angry when the obvious consequences materialize. Scalpers are merely the agents that correct a market inefficiency introduced by a dysfunctional status quo.

[saltmate]

Noone thinks concert ticket sales are an open market tho. They have one seller that sets the price, no competition between different sellers.

It only becomes a "market" after scalpers buy all contingent to resell.

[darkwater]

Unbelievable how somebody could defend scalping. There is no ethical or moral value in that practice outside of "I can earn money with that".

[fc417fc802]

I'm not defending the overall arrangement, simply pointing out that the blame is misplaced. If you want to sell below market value in a capitalist system then you must take appropriate measures to prevent a market from forming. More or less by design if one can form then it will.

Similarly I do not attempt to blame the rank and file employees of the ad tech industry for the actions of their employers, nor of the defense industry for the actions of the government. As an individual living under such a system either you move to make money when the opportunity arises or someone else will instead and you will lose out.

[darkwater]

> More or less by design if one can form then it will.

By this logic we should accept that the stronger beats and kills the weaker because it's literally natural.

[inigyou]

This is called "victim blaming". You are saying the blame for a problem shouldn't be on those who directly caused the problem, but on those who failed to prevent them from causing the problem.

You're right but in a different way. Scalpers aren't independent, they work for the artists to maximise artist revenue while absorbing the PR hit themselves.

[fc417fc802]

No, I am saying that the people who went and created conditions that they knew would lead to the problem are the ones to blame. They are not victims except perhaps of their own poor decisions. I explicitly do not think that scalpers are doing anything wrong given that in a capitalistic system someone is always going to arbitrage things.

You don't get to enact poor policy, stick your fingers in your ears, then blame everyone but yourself for the place burning down.

[inigyou]

Policy is enacted by the government and by Cloudflare, not by web scrapers.

[inigyou]

Scalping is ethical if and only if you are marketpilled. If you think anything outside the market matters, such as maximizing human enjoyment of the concert, then it's unethical.