| morale, ethics, dignity and pirates
there was a short discussion between a gentleman from this forum and me about rapidshare points. I want to bring this discussion to this new thread.
I have only a rough overview what is going on on the internet, it is less than 2 years since I have a permanent internet connection. But I've encountered a few tricks:
- people upload material with false names to mislead downloaders. The reason is to gain points from the filesharing service. Luckily these are rare cases.
- people upload a file, let's say a plugin that is only a few megabytes big, and add a video file to the archive. The same reason as above, and these people even say so in their nfo: "a fine file for you, and some additional points for me".
- people upload material and forbid making mirrors. Again for the same reason, and they don't want that others "steal" their advantage to get these points.
- and obviously people think hard about where to upload material to maximize their points gain.
- people upload material in code-protected archives and "forget" to indicate the correct code. This can have several reasons, lack of attention, lazyness, purpose (same as above).
- people upload big files like a DVD in the form of e.g. 25 MB archives instead of fewer 100 MB or bigger archives. Same reason as above.
So here is my opinion: first there are the programmers who create the software. They do it for a living and deserve the money. If you are a hobbyist or born with a silver spoon in the mouth, you probably don't understand that point. If you are in the business and your stomach is empty, you do:)
Then there are hackers who distribute their cracks over channels that are unknown to me, but sooner or later those cracks find the way to forums and torrent sites. An interesting thread about this topic is already existent here, so I won't go deeper into this.
Then there are those who pick up the cracks and make them available to a larger public. This is the so-called sharing community, like this board.
According to my understanding of sharing it is not appropriate to do any of the above mentioned things. If you apply one of those tricks, you do not really share, you let yourself pay your sharing with points. You use your advantage for your personal gain. It is like helping someone under the condition that you receive an award for your help. I do not condemn this attitude, but I would rather call this a deal, not a help.
So when you are in a sharing community and do one of those tricks, you are a dealer, not a sharer.
I believe that the hunting for gain and profit is the main cause for misery. It does not matter if you are a banker or a member of an internet forum. The greedy attitude is the same.
In my yet unfinished book "corruption in daily life" (working title), I enquire such things. I observed that even in small circles there are some clever ones who try to gain advantage over others, and the losers are those who stay honest.
Now you simply have to extend that to a larger scale, and then you have the sub-prime crisis, the food crisis, the ecological crisis (here, nature is the loser), the never-ending Middle-East-conflict, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, etc., just to name a few contemporary examples.
The tragicomical thing is, that also those clever ones, who do their little cheats and gains, complain loudly about corrupt politicians, corporations and bankers, without realizing that they act the same, only in a smaller scale.
So if you are "playing the game", if you only act for gain, then you have lost your dignity. You will be successful, probably lead a decent life, receive medals and honours, but you sold your soul for it.
But if you stay honest, share what you've got without even thinking of a reward, you are saving your true honour and dignity. You may be not so successful in business, you may not have much luxury, you may be laughed at and don't get the medals or privileges, but you did not sell your soul, because you know that this is your most precious thing. You don't sell it for cheap, you don't sell it at all.
I am not against dealers and profiteers who "play the game". I know that the temptation is there, I was tempted myself numerous times (and fell into the trap), but I don't support them if I can avoid it (in a society, compromises are unavoidable), I look very closely to where I give my energy (advice, help, money, etc.), so actually I also have conditions before I help. The condition is honesty, and it's not my personal gain, it's the gain for the entire humanity.
I do not belong to those who complain about wars or corrupt polititians because I know that we only get the government we deserve. When we all resist the temptations, a golden era will replace our crazy world.
And finally, think about who is the real winner, and who is the real loser in the end.:) Thanks for reading and thinking.
 |
Linear Mode
