Well this is disgusting, but at least it looks incredibly easy to game. Lie about your job, make big purchases on weeks you aren't paid, buy generic when possible, trade coupons with friends, spoof GPS and geoIP data to look like you're in a poorer location. And that's just off the top of my head. Once again the big internet money making strategy is taking advantage of the uninformed and the elderly.
Does that matter? Your ability to game an only roughly accurate algorithm only indicates that the value of your time is less than other potential buyers. They'll be happy to let you pay less, as they're making a killing selling to uninformed or lazier people who have inelastic demand.
I dunno. I have access to nearly every piece of digital media ever created and I pay no one, and yet, everyone else goes throughout the world and pays oodles on monthly services, all to avoid the "cost" of learning what soulseek is, what mutorrent is.
I guess I didn't read your final sentence in your OP, and maybe we're saying the same thing, but this just doesn't need to matter to most people here-- but yes, it continues as a means to squeeze money from the unresourceful.
Well this is disgusting, but at least it looks incredibly easy to game. Lie about your job, make big purchases on weeks you aren't paid, buy generic when possible, trade coupons with friends, spoof GPS and geoIP data to look like you're in a poorer location. And that's just off the top of my head. Once again the big internet money making strategy is taking advantage of the uninformed and the elderly.
Does that matter? Your ability to game an only roughly accurate algorithm only indicates that the value of your time is less than other potential buyers. They'll be happy to let you pay less, as they're making a killing selling to uninformed or lazier people who have inelastic demand.
It does matter because:
it makes my brain happy to come up with ways to beat it
beating the algorithm will reduce prices for the shopper (loss leaders will be used heavily for this I'm sure)
if enough people are cheating the system, it breaks the algorithm for everyone
I dunno. I have access to nearly every piece of digital media ever created and I pay no one, and yet, everyone else goes throughout the world and pays oodles on monthly services, all to avoid the "cost" of learning what soulseek is, what mutorrent is.
I guess I didn't read your final sentence in your OP, and maybe we're saying the same thing, but this just doesn't need to matter to most people here-- but yes, it continues as a means to squeeze money from the unresourceful.
So easy to live my life like a refugee from Skynet in order to get 20% cheaper corn pops