dtp

The word "worse" might be worse than some other term Gabriel could have picked. But this article (written in 1989) was really pretty influential at the time, and cemented the phrase "worse is better" in a lot of peoples' minds.

The article even has its own Wikipedia page. Apart from whatever merits it might or might not have in itself, I think it's a worthwhile read because it made an impression on a lot of people back in 1989. It's one of the first explicit attempts to discuss the "Unix philosophy."

I have the Helvetica Neue family installed, so apparently I care about fonts. What I don't care for is smug, condescending bullshit, and I didn't finish the article.

Sorry if that sounds too harsh. I shouldn't shit on you too hard for trying to do something good. I've never written any software that does anything even remotely as good for the human race as this, so maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.

I really did have a strong "oh wow this is kind of messed up" reaction to Karmabox, though, and I suspect I'm not the only one who will. Maybe it would be worthwhile to offer an alternative interface that would be less jarring to people like me?

The idea of being presented with the names and faces of people in need and asked to choose who to give money to is so repellent to me that, if I encountered Karmabox on a website, I would choose not to donate at all.

Seriously. This makes me so incredibly uncomfortable. It's like you're forcing these people to compete with each other to get medical care.

I realize that donating to all of them is an option, but it doesn't make the presentation any less icky to me.

When I give to charitable causes, I want to feel like I'm entrusting it to people capable of making informed and compassionate decisions about the most impactful way the money can be put to use. I know that charities often fall short of this ideal in reality, but I don't think the solution is to present me, a rich white Westerner, with a menu of suffering third-worlders to choose from. That's just gross.

Exactly. And even once the patent is granted, prior art can be re-examined in the courtroom when a lawsuit is brought. I'm not an expert or anything, but I wouldn't expect this patent to stand up in court.

For one, Etsy is neither an arm of the US government nor a mega-corporation. It's got a few hundred employees.

Secondly, the issue is that they think he isn't making his stuff by hand. They're not somehow persecuting him because he's a handcraftsman. Selling stuff you make by hand is the entire point of Etsy, and they've built a successful business around it.

Politics is beside the point. You're just not making any sense.