from Hacker News

WallStreetBets members adopt 3,500 gorillas in six days

by ptype on 3/18/21, 6:57 AM with 310 comments

  • by skohan on 3/18/21, 9:18 AM

    Just to put this in perspective, the global population of mountain gorillas is 1,063, so this represents the symbolic adoption of over 3 times the mountain gorillas alive in the wild!

    I hope this unexpected boon in capital will allow for some meaningful work in preserving and protecting these rare animals. It would be an interesting footnote in history if we can look back in 50 years and draw a line between an internet meme, reckless asset trading, and a change in the trajectory of the fate an endangered species.

  • by tener on 3/18/21, 9:02 AM

    The title is confusing, perhaps worth changing "Reddit investors" to "Wall Street Bets users" or something similar. I genuinely thought the article would talk about owners of Reddit, not it's users.
  • by victorp13 on 3/18/21, 11:25 AM

    Generic question: I see a lot of news articles stating that WSB has "10 million members". Does being a 'member' go beyond clicking the 'join' button on that subreddit? If so it's more like a 'follow this channel', isn't it?
  • by practicalpants on 3/18/21, 4:31 PM

    Worth noting they've also adopted whales, belugas, sloths, falcons, and probably a lot of other animals I didn't notice when scrolling the past few days.
  • by leg100 on 3/18/21, 9:08 AM

    “But we all know the wag’s definition of a philanthropist: a man whose charity increases directly as the square of the distance.”

    ― George Eliot, Middlemarch

  • by legel on 3/18/21, 2:58 PM

    In defiance of the bear and bull, the gorilla market rages on
  • by savant_penguin on 3/18/21, 4:37 PM

    https://store.gorillafund.org/

    They've added a new banner: Apes together strong

    Haha

  • by runawaybottle on 3/18/21, 3:32 PM

  • by jwilk on 3/18/21, 9:08 AM

    What does it even mean to adopt a gorilla?
  • by escapecharacter on 3/18/21, 2:51 PM

    My understanding is that these are depreciating assets; what’s their long-term outlook?
  • by lowdose on 3/18/21, 11:25 AM

    Why not give them more places on earth to habitat?
  • by fractal618 on 3/18/21, 2:39 PM

    100 bucks a piece?
  • by TLightful on 3/18/21, 11:33 AM

    Allocate some of that to a Harambe memorial.

    The rest to habitat nurturing and protection.

  • by xwdv on 3/18/21, 2:28 PM

    Why doesn't hackernews adopt something or do something like this? Software developers are rolling in money, and it's not that expensive. Guess we're too busy eating the world.
  • by cryptica on 3/18/21, 6:03 PM

    Philanthropy is one of the greatest evils of our time. Philanthropists steal money from workers via monetary inflation and financial schemes. Then they give away a tiny portion of it to the world's poorest. In the meantime their financial schemes squeeze everyone in the middle; those who actually produce all of the world's economic value.

    In this case, they steal money from working humans and give it to a bunch of gorillas who should have been left alone in the jungle in the first place.

    Not surprising that many of these displaced working humans turn to poaching and other illegal activities to make a living. Their salaries are constantly inflating away, they can't save anything on normal salaries. They can't start their own businesses, they can't compete against those who have access to the money printers.