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A comment on Ask HN: To fight or not to fight piracy?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: To fight or not to fight piracy? by tzs on Sunday December 19, 2010 @04:03PM (#2022489)
> The other side of this is that the pirates give you network effects which let more people see your app.

But if most of the people the pirates show that app to are pirates, those network effects aren't in his favor.

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Re:Ask HN: To fight or not to fight piracy? by thefool on Sunday December 19, 2010 @04:19PM (#2022524)
It depends where his costs lie. If the ratio of piracy/buyers remains constant, and he is making money right now. Greater volume -> greater profits.
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Re:Ask HN: To fight or not to fight piracy? by rick888 on Sunday December 19, 2010 @06:49PM (#2022842)
"It depends where his costs lie. If the ratio of piracy/buyers remains constant, and he is making money right now. Greater volume -> greater profits."

I seriously doubt the buyer/pirate ratio is going to stay constant or increase with increased pirate views. Why would it?

When I was younger, I would pirate the hell out of anything and everything. I would only buy it if it was too difficult to actually find/crack. Many pirates will just give up (and not pay either way). But, I think a larger percentage of people that would actually buy it (compared to the number of pirates that will pay a dollar out of the kindness of their hearts).

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