psv1 (u/psv1) - Readit News

psv1 commented on Ask HN: Survey] Why do/don't you buy with crypto? · Posted by u/john_zettler

buboard · 6 years ago

> because the quality and coins

a popular exchange like binance offers hundreds of coins and certainly all of the major ones, and probably more than any bank can offer. If you need one that is not in their list then you must be looking at a very weird merchant. i agree that crypto wallets are still cumbersome to use for average users, but finding and signing up to exchanges is easy.

> I can transfer money through my phone app (or online banking if I prefer) to any other UK bank account

does it work equally fast and cheap when you send money to japan or australia?

psv1 · 6 years ago

> does it work equally fast and cheap when you send money to japan or australia?

Of course not. Not that I've ever had to do that in my entire adult life.

> a popular exchange like binance offers hundreds of coins and certainly all of the major ones, and probably more than any bank can offer. If you need one that is not in their list then you must be looking at a very weird merchant.

Decentralisation at its finest.

psv1 commented on Ask HN: Survey] Why do/don't you buy with crypto? · Posted by u/john_zettler

buboard · 6 years ago

> Be using a service which accepts crypto.

This one is really the only valid reason, otherwise you're not comparing apples-to-apples.

You (most probably) did have to go (physically) to a bank and prove your identity and your credit record in order to maintain any credit card. And it takes days to wire money to your bank account. If anything crypto exchanges are trivially easy to use in comparison and you can convert one (usable) cryptocoin to another much faster and easier than any bank will allow you.

Price fluctuations are a problem, but not if you keep your main balance in a stablecoin and only convert at the time of purchase. And a crypto wallet doesnt grow in physical no matter how many different coins you store in it.

In reality, if cryptocurrencies weren't actively being fought by governments and banks, they would have conquered the world in no time because they are so damn easier to use and secure.

psv1 · 6 years ago

> You (most probably) did have to go (physically) to a bank and prove your identity and your credit record in order to maintain any credit card.

Didn't have to go there physically. And this is done once while with crypto exchanges you need to sign up for multiple ones because the quality and coins they offer vary so much.

> And it takes days to wire money to your bank account.

In the UK I can transfer money through my phone app (or online banking if I prefer) to any other UK bank account and the transfer is instant and completely free. Cryptocurrencies can't compete with banks that have their shit together when it comes to convenience.

psv1 commented on Ask HN: Survey] Why do/don't you buy with crypto? · Posted by u/john_zettler

psv1 · 6 years ago

To pay with my credit card online I just need to fill in the card details (which are often stored on the website anyway, or auto-filled by my browser). To pay with card in person, I just need to touch in my phone (at worst take out my card and enter the PIN if they don't accept contactless, which is exceptionally rare in the UK).

To pay with a cryptocurrency I need to:

1. Be using a service which accepts crypto. This immediately rules out the overwhelming majority of services people use, live or online.

2. Own the same cryptocurrency which the service accepts.

3. To have it, I need to register to a cryptocurrency exchange.

4. To do that I need to go through identity checks and often message support a couple of times for one thing or another.

5. Now I can use a payment method to deposit money from my bank account to the exchange. NOTE: This step alone is slower than the entire process of just paying real money with my credit card.

6. I need to wait a couple of days for the bank transfer to the exchange to clear. The transfer also comes with fees.

7. While I'm doing this the price of the cryptocurrency is fluctuating and I have no way to know which way it will go next and by how much.

8. Now I need to transfer the cryptocurrency from the exchange to my wallet - this process is different for each coin and each exchange.

9. A few minutes later, if I've followed the instructions correctly I may have the privilege to pay with a cryptocurrency from my wallet. I will pay a fee for this and the payment won't be received immediately.

And I'm capable of doing all of this because I'm a somewhat technical person who's used to following instructions written by other people and has a basic understanding of cryptocurrency. Neither the older members of my family, nor the younger ones who don't spend their entire day in front a computer will have the ability or interest to go through this.

psv1 commented on Ask HN: Idea feedback – Service where people pay to reach your inbox · Posted by u/dsinecos

psv1 · 6 years ago

So the receiver pays you for access to the service and the sender also pays you for access to the receiver?

I hate everything about this double-dipping-middle-man-in-an-otherwise-free-interaction business model.

psv1 commented on Ask HN: What is the hardest part of self-learning? · Posted by u/gavribirnbaum

konstevich · 6 years ago

Cost of new books. I usually need to see a tiny passage in a new book (I constantly monitor the internet for new releases) and am not willing to buy a book just for that.

psv1 · 6 years ago

Which field are you looking at? On the topics that I've been interested in - programming, math, statistics, ML - there many really good books that are completely free.

psv1 commented on What can you use instead of Google and Facebook? bbc.com/news/business-504... · Posted by u/hhs

druddha · 6 years ago

I agree that the DDG results, especially for software development related searches, are often worse than searching Google or StackOverflow directly. So here's my workflow:

1. Search DDG. If I find a decent result, I stop here.

2. Append !so to the end of the search. This searches StackOverflow directly. If this works, I stop here.

3. Append !g to the end of the search. This searches Google directly.

This way Google becomes a last resort.

Also worth noting that you can actually navigate DDG search results using vim keybindings without the need for a plugin: something Google dropped support for a few years ago.

psv1 · 6 years ago

My concern about Google isn't big enough to justify going through this.

psv1 commented on What can you use instead of Google and Facebook? bbc.com/news/business-504... · Posted by u/hhs

JohnJamesRambo · 6 years ago

DuckDuckGo is really changing my world. It’s like I’m seeing a whole other internet I was missing before with Google search results. I get much more relevant answers and less SEO targeted garbage that says all the right words usually while saying nothing at all. I was skeptical, but I encourage you to give it a try if you haven’t before.

psv1 · 6 years ago

> I was skeptical, but I encourage you to give it a try if you haven’t before.

I have - I found the results far less useful than Google's, the whole experience far more frustrating and it noticeably slowed down my work.

psv1 commented on Amazon asks court to halt Microsoft's work on Pentagon 'war cloud' thehill.com/policy/techno... · Posted by u/dbg31415

castlecrasher2 · 6 years ago

>This isn't the same as "you'll hear from my lawyer".

How isn't it? You keep speaking authoritatively on this; where is your evidence? And any derivation of "Amazon is a big company and they don't enter lawsuits they won't win" isn't evidence.

psv1 · 6 years ago

First,

> "Amazon is a big company and they don't enter lawsuits they won't win"

this simply isn't what I said.

Second - my evidence? We're not in court and I'm not trying to prove anything to you. I just explained my thought process - if you disagree or if you think there's a flaw in my reasoning, you can point it out. Or you can move on and ignore what I've written.

psv1 commented on Amazon asks court to halt Microsoft's work on Pentagon 'war cloud' thehill.com/policy/techno... · Posted by u/dbg31415

crystaldev · 6 years ago

I decided based on your statement:

> There's enough evidence for Amazon to take legal action.

The "enough" here is zero. They may have more, but you argued for at least zero.

psv1 · 6 years ago

> The "enough" here is zero.

No, it isn't. Legally it might be zero, but multi-billion dollar companies don't enter legal processes that last years and cost them millions just for the sake of it. This isn't the same as "you'll hear from my lawyer".

psv1 commented on Amazon asks court to halt Microsoft's work on Pentagon 'war cloud' thehill.com/policy/techno... · Posted by u/dbg31415

crystaldev · 6 years ago

So you mean zero, right? There's no evidence benchmark for a party taking legal action in a civil matter. Saying "you'll be hearing from my lawyer" doesn't strengthen an argument.

psv1 · 6 years ago

I don't know what evidence they have. Not sure why you decided that it's zero.