Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions

plsfix.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 423 posts

Re: Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions

#121

Post by denisdl »

38 wrote: post #114
denisdl wrote: post #111

I think this is a great idea to show how to create a product to attend a real customer pain - but only as a protest site to raise some awareness to the customer service problem of these big techs. But, if real, it's an huge unethical breach for bribery, privacy violation, and will only benefit illegal content. A real customer using this will never be accepted again on those platforms.

> A real customer using this will never be accepted again on those platforms this sentence doesn't make sense

sorry, english is not my first language. my point is if a real customer, let's say get blocked on Instagram after an account takeover try to use this service to rescue and unblock and get caught by Meta team, surely will not get their account back because of the unofficial means used to recover the account.

Re: Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions

#122

Post by swozey »

icedchai wrote: post #40

This site is bad, but what's worse is it may be the only way to get your problem solved!

I've posted about it a few times, a few years ago my entire Google account was locked out for "fraud" with Google Pay. Lost my email, DNS, GoogleFI (my CELLPHONE) access. Sent them a picture of my license 3 times on a form they make you fill out (which you have to google, they don't tell you anything, you just can't log in).

Never received a response.

I'd kind of like this for stuff like that. Bypassing horrendous or non-existent customer support.

I never once received a response from Google. I tested my account maybe a year later and it was unlocked.

Re: Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions

#123

Post by 7speter »

bee_rider wrote: post #73
hurutparittya wrote: post #29

I had to check if it was April Fools' Day. This is one of the most disturbing posts I've seen in a while. I sincerely hope that people who profit off of this will get fired at the very least.

The concept seems like… performance art protest or something. Building a platform to bribe your way through the opaque customer non-service system of these companies is either low corruption or high art.

I see this in a less cynical light… this seems to be a commentary about how these companies can disrupt an individual’s life cor whatever reason and said individual has no legal recourse. Legislation certainly hasn’t address what seems to be a very common issue that even within this thread, lots of people are sharing experiences about losing accounts that held thousands of dollars in them.

These companies claim that people can make a livelihood, or save their digital lives with their services, but the dark underbelly seems to be that for any reason, these companies can erase you, and even worse, you can “bribe” an insider to get things back. Its an elegant way to expose an issue that you only really might see a random youtuber complain about. How much more widespread should you allow this to get?

Instead of writing an article for wired, create an app to bring attention to an issue.

Re: Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions

#124

Post by zarathustreal »

diputsmonro wrote: post #119
blast wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes and it seems unscrupulous to take kickback money for this. on the other hand, as someone who has one of these problems, I'd be only too happy to pay an insider to fix it. It's not just the technical problem (account suspension etc.), it's the injustice of the thing in the first place, and then the rage of being put in an endless hell loop.

I mean, that's the nature of bribery, isn't it? Of course you want to pay someone to get special treatment, who doesn't?

I think there’s a conceptual difference between a payment made for bare minimum service and a payment made for special treatment. Granted, for most web services these days they seem to be the same in reality

Re: Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions

#125

Post by loeg »

JohnMakin wrote: post #27
constantcrying wrote: post #23

Seems insane. Surely every single company would fire you for doing that. If you put this in its proper term it is "corruption" and you should definitely worry about the legal implications of doing this.

For meta/facebook at least it’s long been an open secret that the fastest way to get something done on the platform is to have a connection that works at meta.

Yeah, but it is intended for organic connections, not adversely selected 3rd parties directly enriching the employee.

Re: Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions

#126

Post by 7speter »

MrDarcy wrote: post #42
hurutparittya wrote: post #29

I had to check if it was April Fools' Day. This is one of the most disturbing posts I've seen in a while. I sincerely hope that people who profit off of this will get fired at the very least.

If you’re one of the employees who sign up for this, beware. Facebook will surely sue this guy and the payment paper trail will be the first thing he’s required to give over in discovery. I don’t see how he can guarantee you’ll be anonymous for long.

This guy will be able to request things for discovery too.

Re: Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions

#127

Post by loeg »

diputsmonro wrote: post #119
blast wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes and it seems unscrupulous to take kickback money for this. on the other hand, as someone who has one of these problems, I'd be only too happy to pay an insider to fix it. It's not just the technical problem (account suspension etc.), it's the injustice of the thing in the first place, and then the rage of being put in an endless hell loop.

I mean, that's the nature of bribery, isn't it? Of course you want to pay someone to get special treatment, who doesn't?

It's the nature of payment for services more broadly. Someone with money and lacking a service happily crosses trade with someone offering a service and desiring money.

Re: Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions

#128

Post by loeg »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #113
xyst wrote: post #43

This has to be a sting operation. No way would I risk my stable 6-figure job for some random to get their account unlocked. Especially not for "$100" lol. If the account was locked for fraudulent activity or worse, something illegal like CSAM. That paper trail will easily lead back to you. Bye bye job and possible investigation by authorities. On the upside, at least you will get "free" security from the FBI when you…

This is a great fit for a call center support person in an emerging economy for whom 150 bucks is a big deal, I doubt this would entice a staff eng doing 500k tco.

> staff eng doing 500k tco

With the stock flying high, even the L5s who stayed during the 2022 doldrums are making that kind of money.

Re: Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions

#129

Post by armchairhacker »

jrockway wrote: post #100
armchairhacker wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As others pointed out, this is a huge problem in the making. Someone who genuinely deserves the suspension (e.g. posts illegal content) will use the service. They'll get their suspension lifted because the company trusts the internal employee who filled out the form. Said person will continue to post illegal content and be suspended again. Enough true negatives like this and eventually the company will discover the e…

This seems unlikely to me. No company is going to fire you because you were trying to help. However, accepting money for this service seems pretty much guaranteed to result in termination even if 100% of the accounts you help with were legitimate. The side dealing is the problem.

I think it's unlikely if the content is benign and it's not guaranteed anyways.

But if the person is posting illegal or very graphic content, and the company knows you unbanned them, I think it would raise questions like "how do you know this person" or "what made you trust them?". Which you'll have trouble answering if all you have is their name, email, and the sparse information they gave for why they should be unbanned. You'll argue "this person hid that side of themselves from everyone" but at minimum it calls your judgment into question, and if the company is aware of this kind of service, they'll probe for more information.

Also if someone uses this service repeatedly disguising themselves as different people, it will raise questions why different internal employees kept unbanning them. That would be much more suspicious.

Re: Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions

#130

Post by BoorishBears »

endofreach wrote: post #95
neilv wrote: post #71

If any FAANG employee falls for this, it's a good way for the company to weed them out, and terminate them for-cause. You might run this as a honeypot for corrupt, dumb employees. Make it more easily accessible than the outreaches from criminal enterprises.

I really hate to phrase it like this, but i don't see another way... if a FAANG employee would be considered dumb when signing up for this... how can this not have crossed OPs mind when spending his/her time building this platform (as an ex-FAANG)?

I'm surprised no one has considered that this is a way to get people talking more than it is a way to get accounts unsuspended...
Post reply on HN