I wonder where people like you draw the line at such behavior. Why is music any different than TV Shows? Or Movies? Or eBooks? Would you feel comfortable "pirating" all those as well? Hell, why not go all the way and pirate software as well
A lot of people do all these things- I thought that was relatively well known. Not that I am condoning it, but if we're talking about drawing the line... it's very far away from where you're discussing it. I suspect it lies somewhere near "is a real physical item".
I find that most HN contributors are well-off, don't make too many movies/songs and contribute under their real name. Put those facts together and you can easily get a hivemind reaction of "piracy is extremely evil with zero justification ever for anyone".
Weird, I have the exact opposite impression, I always thought the common HN hivemind mentality was EXTREMELY pro piracy, usually rationalized with one of the following justifications:
1. "I wasn't going to buy it anyway so the author isn't losing a sale"
2. Zero incremental cost!
3. "If I like it I'll eventually maybe buy it" (if only I could use that defense after stealing a Porsche)
5. They should just sell T-shirts/concert tickets/support plans instead
6. Art must be performed for free, otherwise it's commercial crap
I think whether HN is pro piracy depends very much on which comment thread you look at: If "DRM" is part of the title, the mood will be very different from "Show HN: My New Book", in my experience...
A lot of people do all these things- I thought that was relatively well known. Not that I am condoning it, but if we're talking about drawing the line... it's very far away from where you're discussing it. I suspect it lies somewhere near "is a real physical item".