“Paying” as in “cash payment” is literally the standard dictionary definition. It’s also where the top line number of any financial statement comes from. You are, in fact, the one redefining “paying” to suit your purposes.
In what way is that relevant? Which one are you providing FB for the privilege of using their service? Do you disagree that the dictionary definition of “pay” is as I described it?
It seems relevant that the idea of paying with things other than cash is pervasive and has been for longer than either of us has been alive.
I usually pay for things these days via an odd ritual in which I insert a small plastic card into a slot, and then, believe it or not, it is actually returned to me.
If I give you something in exchange for a chicken, and you maintain "I did not pay you, because a chicken is not cash", do you think the IRS will be convinced there was no transaction? Or s/chicken/bitcoin/.
So you do disagree with the dictionary definition? Is that what you’re saying? The fact the IRS wants to tax you for bartering with a chicken doesn’t change anything about the English language.
I'm not aware of disagreeing with a dictionary definition.
However, if a dictionary definition is presented to me, and it doesn't include a usage of which I am aware, that doesn't mean I disagree with it even then. It likely just means that something was left out - maybe because people still hope to sell dictionaries, or alternatively because, having given up on selling them, neither accuracy nor completeness is required to sell online ads.
I never "paid" attention to formal grammar in school, but this would seem to be the use of the word as a verb without an object.
As such, definition #13 seems applicable - "money, goods, etc." can't possibly be construed to mean "money and not goods, etc."...can it?
Definition #17 might also apply - you "pay" to use Facebook, oh how you pay...
Anyway, I don't have any particular issues with this entry, and I think the very first definition demonstrates that payment is commonly understood to include "doing something" which is an extremely broad category.
What’s debt do you owe to Facebook that you have to settle as in definition 1?
Definition 17, while fitting, is outside the scope of this current thread.
The point is, Facebook only cares about your experience with their service if you are paying them money. Even the IRS doesn’t care; Facebook doesn’t send you a 1099 for your use of their service, do they? The IRS doesn’t charge them tax on your data, do they? This would seem to indicate that the situation falls outside the “exchange of value for value” type definition of “pay.”
Pointing out that the IRS includes certain things in payment that you don't isn't a claim that some definition they use limits the usage of the word payment. The point is not that everybody should use the IRS definition for words. The IRS provides evidence about what people do in the world; you don't have to (nor was I asking for you to) accept them as the authority.
If I understand your dismissal of definition (1), you are implying that it is significant that definition (2) by contrast only says "money" and uses an example of dollars. I think that's too legalistic and just an artifact of the way things were edited. Dictionaries aren't written to prevent lawyers from finding loopholes, so I don't think you can count on everything being repeated absolutely uniformly. In actual legal documents, they define terms or phrases used repeatedly up front to reduce the repetition, and dictionaries don't seem to customarily do that. So again, definition (1) is evidence about how people behave in the world, not necessarily the definition we are using and from an unimpeachable authority.
No, you do not understand why definition 1 does not apply. The question was: what debt do you owe to Facebook to settle? I claim there is none. Therefore, you are not acting in accordance with definition 1 when providing information to or viewing ads from Facebook.
