7 ms·

A person gives you a whole book they wrote for free and you're complaining about asking for an email? WTF

evilduck 4y ago
Because I weigh the potential of being marketed to by email as being a negative value greater than the potential positive value of the information provided in exchange. 'Free (with the potential to spam you later)' is a world apart from 'Free, gratis, enjoy'.
- FooBarWidget 4y ago
  The author loses much more than you. You can always unsubscribe, or — if you don't trust unsubscribe — filter away his emails. From the beginning you were always in full control. Giving your email grants the author no power over you whatsoever.
  - marktangotango 4y ago
    You are being down voted because this is a shallow view. The expression of interest tied to an identity has value. For proof see Google, Meta, Amazon, and Facebook earnings.
  - Terretta 4y ago
    Nope, they can sell the list (or have it hacked), and then YOU are screwed.
    - FooBarWidget 4y ago
      They sell the list and then you can still filter out unwanted emails.
- christophilus 4y ago
  Wildcard emails for the win.
kretaceous 4y ago
Yeah, I was sad seeing some of the reactions. To each his own. For a student like me, I would gladly take a free resource and won't mind the newsletter. Maybe OP can also put a donate button for people who don't want to provide their E-Mail and get the book. Thanks a lot, tpetry!
- hgrth6644fd23 4y ago
  The criticism is that it's not honest. "For free" is not correct. It's "book against harvesting your contact data". If that's what the first page would say, then it would be honest and nobody would be upset. But acting as if it's been "published" out of pure altruism is just misleading people, and they are righfully pointing that out.
  - yakshaving_jgt 4y ago
    Would you pay money in lieu of providing your real email address? If so, how much?
    - gbear605 4y ago
      I’d probably pay $10, that’s worth less to me than my contact info.
      - ranger_danger 4y ago
        Just use a throwaway mail, what's the big deal? Companies already have tons of your private data without you ever even interacting with them. You're just crying into a 50 gallon drum of milk.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - enraged_camel 4y ago
    I took it to mean “free as in beer”
pubby 4y ago
It's not exactly free if they're asking something in return.
- selykg 4y ago
  I only have like a dozen email addresses. Several of them are for junk mail and subscription type stuff. Do you... not have a junk email address? I would strongly encourage you to start on that, because, even just a stupid gmail account you never use for anything important but use for junk is probably a life changing situation for you if you've never heard of doing something like this. Edit: Super power here is setting up a 1Password Identity (or whichever tool you use, hell, even a snippet) to auto fill junk email in when signing up for stuff vs not-junk email. I have three identities. One for work, one for personal, one for junk. Makes this stuff super easy and fast.
  - pubby 4y ago
    I wasn't trying to make a point about price (e-mails are practically free). The book could cost half a penny and my comment would still stand. People just view items that cost something differently than genuinely free items, and not in a rational, economic way. For example, see: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/13/156737801/the-cost-of-free-doughnuts-70-years-of-regret https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/13/156737801/the-...
- nabakin 4y ago
  YouTube asks you to watch ads, but we still consider it to be free. Many mobile games make you create an account (and provide your email) before you can play but we still consider them free because you don't have to give any money. That's the definition here: don't have to pay money = free. This ebook is free
  - varispeed 4y ago
    You don't value your time = free Other people do value their time, therefore it's not free for them.
scrubs 4y ago
Agree. The guy provides engineering know how and we're pigeon dropping all over it for bureaucratic dorkish nonsense? You gotta have an attention span that separates noise from value
- lojban42 4y ago
  Vocal minority.

Because I weigh the potential of being marketed to by email as being a negative value greater than the potential positive value of the information provided in exchange. 'Free (with the potential to spam you later)' is a world apart from 'Free, gratis, enjoy'.

FooBarWidget 4y ago
The author loses much more than you. You can always unsubscribe, or — if you don't trust unsubscribe — filter away his emails. From the beginning you were always in full control. Giving your email grants the author no power over you whatsoever.
- marktangotango 4y ago
  You are being down voted because this is a shallow view. The expression of interest tied to an identity has value. For proof see Google, Meta, Amazon, and Facebook earnings.
- Terretta 4y ago
  Nope, they can sell the list (or have it hacked), and then YOU are screwed.
  - FooBarWidget 4y ago
    They sell the list and then you can still filter out unwanted emails.
christophilus 4y ago
Wildcard emails for the win.

kretaceous 4y ago

Yeah, I was sad seeing some of the reactions. To each his own. For a student like me, I would gladly take a free resource and won't mind the newsletter. Maybe OP can also put a donate button for people who don't want to provide their E-Mail and get the book. Thanks a lot, tpetry!

hgrth6644fd23 4y ago
The criticism is that it's not honest. "For free" is not correct. It's "book against harvesting your contact data". If that's what the first page would say, then it would be honest and nobody would be upset. But acting as if it's been "published" out of pure altruism is just misleading people, and they are righfully pointing that out.
- yakshaving_jgt 4y ago
  Would you pay money in lieu of providing your real email address? If so, how much?
  - gbear605 4y ago
    I’d probably pay $10, that’s worth less to me than my contact info.
    - ranger_danger 4y ago
      Just use a throwaway mail, what's the big deal? Companies already have tons of your private data without you ever even interacting with them. You're just crying into a 50 gallon drum of milk.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- enraged_camel 4y ago
  I took it to mean “free as in beer”

pubby 4y ago

It's not exactly free if they're asking something in return.

selykg 4y ago
I only have like a dozen email addresses. Several of them are for junk mail and subscription type stuff. Do you... not have a junk email address? I would strongly encourage you to start on that, because, even just a stupid gmail account you never use for anything important but use for junk is probably a life changing situation for you if you've never heard of doing something like this. Edit: Super power here is setting up a 1Password Identity (or whichever tool you use, hell, even a snippet) to auto fill junk email in when signing up for stuff vs not-junk email. I have three identities. One for work, one for personal, one for junk. Makes this stuff super easy and fast.
- pubby 4y ago
  I wasn't trying to make a point about price (e-mails are practically free). The book could cost half a penny and my comment would still stand. People just view items that cost something differently than genuinely free items, and not in a rational, economic way. For example, see: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/13/156737801/the-cost-of-free-doughnuts-70-years-of-regret https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/13/156737801/the-...
nabakin 4y ago
YouTube asks you to watch ads, but we still consider it to be free. Many mobile games make you create an account (and provide your email) before you can play but we still consider them free because you don't have to give any money. That's the definition here: don't have to pay money = free. This ebook is free
- varispeed 4y ago
  You don't value your time = free Other people do value their time, therefore it's not free for them.

scrubs 4y ago

Agree. The guy provides engineering know how and we're pigeon dropping all over it for bureaucratic dorkish nonsense? You gotta have an attention span that separates noise from value

lojban42 4y ago
Vocal minority.