[john_strinlai]

i'm not a robot or venture capitalist, so i'm not sure why i need to exclude empathy from my decision-making process.

but, from a purely selfish standpoint: i get way better customer service, i can do trades, i can barter, i get to meet and talk with people, i can see the product before i buy it (no surprise knock-offs, etc.), my money mostly stays local, i find interesting work opportunities and sometimes referrals

[eudamoniac]

You don't have to exclude empathy, but I said it is "a charity-empathy business" and you called that "a sad comment to read" and added that you get a lot of value. That would strongly imply that you disagree with my characterization and/or you get a lot of non-charity-empathy value. That then leads to me asking what that value is.

Personally none of those things you listed are what I want when buying a book, except knockoff protection, but thank you for answering.