Are Indians the biggest freeloaders ever?

But dont you want to know about the time I bought a lingerie for myself?

 

Dude. We went together.

 

Oh yeaahh.. And might I say, you looked dashing in that jockstrap.

 

Don't get me started about your strap on..... shoes.

 

Wow. this is fun

 

Am I late?

+1 to that

i think, the main culprit is our transaction system. Most of the Indian surfers do not have any Credit Card (or they fear of being scammed), or any kind of online payment services. We are clearly not easy with "paying online". That's the main reason we are one of the biggest freeloaders.

 

There is a difference between liking things for free and being a freeloader. Everyone likes things for free but some are also willing to pay voluntarily for services provided.



Also, I think that's a soft excuse. Most of us are pretty willing to pay up when we're getting cheaper airfares online or something.

 

It all comes down to economics of demand and supply.

Freeloading, is because something is available without any supply constraint.
Now whether there is a demand or not, the value = zero.

Does anyone pay for breathing air (no supply constraint)?
But we do pay for potable drinking water (of course there is a constraint - depending on personal beliefs and hygiene, some ppl are willing to drink drain water also).

 

No, Freeloading is because you think noone's watching.


You're talking about critical resources. If they aren't available for free, you have to pay for them purely for survival. eg- heating in a Canadian winter. Also, not a good argument but a considerable amount of money is being invested in an attempt (no matter how weak) to purify the air you breathe...a lot of it is, in fact, tax payers money.


I don't think using wikipedia comes under the same banner as any of this. This is a resource for which people have paid willingly.

 

Actually it is not. Each and every person in this world is looking to get discounts. Out Bound Call centers run on this Funda


But Are we not willing to donate? Suppose, you are walking on the street and suddenly you see a beggar. There are chances that you'll give him a rupee and go away. So, are we really not willing to donate? No!
But when it comes to spending online, we think 10 times before spending a single rupee.
having a paypal account helps, but there is no way to add funds to a paypal account from an Indian bank. So, most of us have 0 balance in our paypal account( but I do have some..

We don't even buy anything from internet (even if the product is cheaper than market)... that doesn't mean that Indians are not rich

 

yes. and to get discounts, we're willing to pay for airfare online.

That's a good point actually but still different from what I'm asking. This is charity, something Indians are quite famous for. I'm talking about voluntarily paying for a service you're getting for free.

I agree about paypal but not spending online is no longer true. I think sites like makemytrip and shaadi.com are doing roaring business.

 

^how does it all matter bdw?

 

Why doesn't it?

 

Not just critical resources used for survival but otherwise also.
You can't blame ppl for freeloading, if that stuff is available for FREE.

As long as it has a demand, and is in limited supply, there is a value which ppl are willing to pay (Diamonds for example fetch much higher value than other gemstones, thought diamonds are less rare than most precious stones)

The moment it is available openly, and freely (maybe not everywhere, but somewhere) it loses all monetary value.

Of course some ppl live on high moral grounds, and feel it below their dignity to consume anything available for free.
But that's not what masses think.

 

if its legal, its fyn, but illegal free downloading is called piracy, n u can blame ppl fr supporting piracy. At least i'll blame.

*available for free, illegally*

 

There isn't any blame here. Also, the stuff being available for free has nothing to do with anything. I don't think you quite understand this. Consider two options-


a) You can get a service for free.

b) You can voluntarily pay an amount of your choice for this service.

It is but obvious that you will want to pick option A. This is what all of you are saying. I don't disagree. Now take a look at secret option C:

c) The people running the service request that you pay them an insignificantly small amount to help them pay their bills for the service they provide. You can afford to pay yet look the other way and continue to use the service.


Secret option C is pretty much the definition of freeloading. While this is also natural, the fact that they collect their required funds in 21 days proves that there are people who think very differently. Almost nobly?

 

Why do you do that? Most of the visitors "donate" money when they really get something that shouldn't be free.

Many warez and hacking forums run their servers with the donations from the users. That happens may be because we are fond about software piracy, but we do donate!

 

That's what I'm talking about. How many people do that? Congratulations, my good man, you are not the epitome of freeloading. You are, however, abetting a crime (I do it too so don't think I'm judging you).




However, I think the same rules apply to wikipedia that are being applied to your forum.

 

Then in this case, the ppl who are not "paying" simply don't feel the service as their need.
Its more like a luxury - which you reap while available for free, and forget when its gone.

Second thing could be that these ppl are banking on others who are pushed by their moral grounds or needs to actually pay for this service.
In this case you can call them freeloaders.

Needs/requirements of ppl vary with society and regions.

 

That is exactly what I did in the 1st post. Now, the question is: Do Indians seem to fall into this category more than most?