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

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

#281

Post by gertop »

vineyardmike wrote: post #170
MerManMaid wrote: post #156

Perhaps its just me, but I feel like a lot of users are missing the forest for the trees here. Services such as these only pop up when legitimate solutions prove ineffective at addressing the problem. To me, these services are more indicative of "Big Tech" failing to create effective appeal processes to meet their consumer's demand... While I'm sure there isn't a lot of money in it, it'd be great for Big Tech to exam…

It’s just you. The ineffectiveness is the point. This service is a joke, it’s surely illegal. Everyone knows it’s a “failing” system, you can’t scale free customer service forever. The legitimacy of the need for this service proves the value of these accounts. I predict that tech companies will get in on it, and within a few years will offer paid customer service the way enterprises get today. You can already pay for…

> I predict that tech companies will get in on it, and within a few years will offer paid customer service the way enterprises get today.

Good! That would be a fantastic outcome if that's all plsfix accomplishes. Tons of people would be willing to pay for support but it's just not offered.

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

#282

Post by genewitch »

dylan604 wrote: post #261
thesuperbigfrog wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Are you actually having a human employed by Google acting in the role of support that cannot help solve the issue? That is exactly what happened to my coworker. She bought a Pixel phone from the Google Store and it got lost in shipping. Shipment tracking showed it arriving at the carrier's hub and never leaving for a month. She called customer service and the first tier workers followed a script that was essential…

> She called customer service of which party in this problem? seems like contacting the carrier would have been more productive. contacting Googs about a delayed package seems like the wrong direction to follow. i realize this verges on victim blaming, but just trying to suggest other methods of problem solving.

the carrier would also never say "you need to contact the manufacturer"

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

#283

Post by ricktdotorg »

kelnos wrote: post #265
jsnell wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, the people complaining at an all hands are likely to be completely ignorant about the facts on the ground. They're not working on these systems or processes. They're just gullible enough to believe what they read on the internet, and take action on it. The team responsible for the account suspensions / content takedowns / etc on the other hand will have the numbers to show that they're doing a good job, and the e…

> The team responsible for the account suspensions / content takedowns / etc on the other hand will have the numbers to show that they're doing a good job I think it should be evident by the number of cases we see posted about on HN alone that they are not doing a good job. Or, I guess maybe they're doing a good job based on the metrics they were given, but I wouldn't consider it a good job in the sense of living in…

i 100% agree with you.

i too rage against the insane, bewildering, almost unimaginable scale of anti-customer-service behavior that we seemingly must succumb to, as customers.

i am not sure if there is anything we can do.

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

#284

Post by pompino »

grayhatter wrote: post #269
pompino wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raising complaints internally always has value in any organization. At a minimum, it highlights the fact that people outside the organization think your colleagues are doing a shit job. The patronizing "Oh you silly plebs, we know what we're doing" line is unlikely to get any traction in a developer community where second-guessing and challenging established designs, decisions from SMEs with decades of experience is…

>The patronizing "Oh you silly plebs, we know what we're doing" line is unlikely to get any traction in a developer community where second-guessing and challenging established designs, decisions from SMEs with decades of experience is common. Sounds like you need to start working with smarter people. I used to think this way, until I started working with smart people. Now I still question every decision, but I have e…

>Sounds like you need to start working with smarter people. I used to think this way, until I started working with smart people.

Thanks for the free advice, I guess.

>we tried that but it didn't work because [reason].

If you're not producing results, your experience and expertise and knowledge are no longer relevant. Everything has a shelf-life.

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

#285

Post by crooked-v »

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.

How many of the bigcorps that are completely blind to user issues are even going to notice employees doing this?

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

#286

Post by Liquix »

pylua wrote: post #280
bilalq wrote: post #275

FWIW, having friends at Google and Stripe has been critical for my startup to survive potentially extinction-level disasters. Automated systems false-positive flagging us and shutting down our payment processing with no recourse happened on both. Only by having people on the inside was I able to get my case appealed by an actual human who was capable of reasoning. I don't think I'd be okay with a platform like this.…

This feels like a contradiction at first glance. Violates Ethics of privilege? It would be better and more fair to have everyone pay.

it would be better and more fair to either A) provide actual support for everyone or B) do away with the "internal forms" and provide zero support to everyone. there shouldn't be two hidden levels of support depending on how deep your pockets are or who you know.

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

#287

Post by kevindamm »

paulgb wrote: post #277
TylerE wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Value != price. There is a long legal tradition of the difference, and judges tend to not look favorably on such tactics. Even if the price is less than 250, I don’t think it’s hard to argue that a long-extant social account with many followers is worth far more

"money or thing of value" here seems to refer to the bribe (in cases where the bribe is non-monetary), not the benefit that the briber got from the bribe. > gives an employee money or any thing of value

Even still, you could argue for a sub-$5 per-account value based on what the going rate is on the black market for stolen accounts. Some platforms it's in the $1-2 range.

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

#288

Post by gertop »

jpdpeters wrote: post #10
marklar423 wrote: post #8

This is a real problem that needs solving, but I can see this sort of thing at scale leading big tech companies to not allow their employees to do this anymore.

It's definitely a grey zone. I am definitely keeping all tech employees' info private, nothing is displayed on the site. If it becomes large, I imagine big tech companies would try to fight it, but let's cross that bridge when we get to it.

Hehe, you've learned well the SV way of doing things. After all, your former employer is the one who coined "move fast and break things".

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

#289

Post by 20240521 »

bee_rider wrote: post #245
bragr wrote: post #198

This is commercial bribery in most places. >California Code, Penal Code - PEN § 641.3 >(a) Any employee who solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept money or any thing of value from a person other than his or her employer, other than in trust for the employer, corruptly and without the knowledge or consent of the employer, in return for using or agreeing to use his or her position for the benefit of that other person,…

Weird, so wait, are campaign donations capped at $250?

How is that bribery?

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

#290

Post by 20240521 »

stubish wrote: post #202

I fully understand why this is considered unethical. I fully understand that employees will get fired for taking the bounties. But what actual law is being broken here? I suspect it is legally a bribe, because it is facilitating a non-routine action. But only because of that non-routine bit. Would it be possible to prosecute this, going into court and admitting that your suspension appeals process is non-routine? And…

Probably at least a breach of contract for the employees offering the service.
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