The Problem With Coffee Links
This is written as a response to a specific blog post. Strangely, despite the title being "The Problem With Coffee Links", I don't think there's any actual problem with them at all. You'll know what I'm talking below.
If you don't know what the "coffee link" in the title refers to, it's the kind of links that goes like "if you like this considering buying me a coffee!", hence the name. It became somewhat of a sensation not that long ago, and I joined Bubbles specifically to talk about this in a place where whatever I'm about to say has an actual chance of being read. I've spent days writing a very long blog post on this but I decided to scrap it all and start anew; after days of thinking and writing I would now like things to be simple.
So here goes nothing.
I shall tell you my stance here: I don't care if you have a coffee link or not, but if you have one I would give you a coffee as I see fit. As for the idea that "your asks of coffee reeks of capitalism" argument… it seriously reads like the author has never came across the concept of busking, which is absolutely strange considering he lives in a place that uses euro, has a salary of a couple thousands of them per month, and is well-off enough that 4 euro is just 2 icecreams (last time I checked you can score 1kg of chicken thigh and 1 pack of salad lettuce at that one Lidl near Parnell Street in Dublin, which can at least be fashion into two big meals. Goes to show how much groceries he does on a regular basis…). When I still lived in Dublin, every time I walked through the streets of Temple bar and the area around Dublin's pointy dick there's bound to be one or two person playing music for donations to Ukraine or to simply promote their own music. I don't suppose the author somehow never came across someone like those unless he's some special kind of small town suburb dwellers that never goes to the big cities. Also - imagine going up to one of those and demand them to pack up their bags because "asking for money is capitalism and bad and you should just eat up the cost of your instruments because hobbies are meant to cost you money"; you really can't do that without sounding like an absolute prick, can you?
And then later the author doubled down and said he prefer the "genuine connection" brought by emails over donations. One could have a suspicion that the author actually gives no fuck about any of this and was just saying things to show what good morals he has about the world, but making that claim is irrelevant to this part of my argument… Think about it. If the only interactions me and you ever had is just one or two emails of appreciation, is there truly any kind of meaningful "connection" between us at all, let alone the kind that can be argued to be "genuine" or "not genuine"? Also, what if I'm bound by my own discipline and would rather support you without my own appreciation influencing your writing? Have you ever thought about that?
I suppose not, because the original blog post simply reads like a masturbatory piece; it reads like someone addicted to feeling being good and just trying to chase that high by inventing problems from every innocent little things. The author eventually unwillingly admitted that he might need to think more, but I seriously doubt he has learned his lessons. I suppose it's not that easy to retract one's mental cum back into one's mental penis after it's out after all…
Last update: 2026.6.23