It's not that people with an .edu address aren't all broke, it's that they are better off then the average person, certainly worldwide, and probably even for the US. So instead the author offers discounts based on region.

"I'm unable or unwilling to read." would be more frank and straightforward than this summary.

He also mentioned in the article that, he too, was a broke college student at one point and used to ask people for discounts while juggling multiple jobs trying to get by. Does he not see the hypocrisy in that?

I'm not a huge fan of others limiting educational discounts to only people with .edu email addresses, either.

It's due the reasons I covered in "all those made up arguments", as you call them.

So, you're bitter because you didn't get educational discounts just because you live in Taiwan. Because of this, you decided to not give .edu discounts. I.e. you turn against the "privileged" .edu students rather than the companies that were too lazy to extend discounts to non-US universities. That's just a misguided grudge (to say the least).

What do you really expect to gain business-wise by publicizing a misguided personal grudge with a poorly written post? You don't mention you live in Taiwan. You don't even mention that you give discounts to non-US universities. So, in the end, you come out no better than those "other" companies. The post doesn't work as a publicity stunt either, as you make no mention of the product you're selling.

Why not opaquely offer e.g. a 10% discount to .edu emails and a %40 discount to less-"privileged" universities. No explanations needed, you just receive a discount code in your email address. No drama, no grudges, no need to write lengthy posts and argue with strangers on HN.

Disclosure: Never had a .edu email.

Yeah I don't get why one would write all those words and invoke all sorts of abstract concepts on a public blog spot to justify not giving money.