Yelp Prison Review Faxbot
1–10 of 35 posts
Re: Yelp Prison Review Faxbot
#2But what of possible negative repercussions? I imagine that prison administrators that get poor reviews on Yelp are more likely than average to respond negatively to reviews received, and more likely than average to expend a lot of energy figuring out (even if they are wrong) who wrote the review, and exact revenge upon them.
It would be less snarky, but maybe it would be better to send these faxes to state/federal elected representatives that could act to change things for the better, and that would (generally) have less motivation to seek revenge?
Re: Yelp Prison Review Faxbot
#3I'm assuming this is a half-facetious joke from the creators, but its core intent is sound: valid feedback doesn't always get to the desk on which the buck stops. Not necessarily out of a pursuit of "see no evil, hear no evil..." but just because there's too much noise in the overall dataset of complaints/opinions, and not enough tools or efforts to filter and sift for possible leads. The recent GM recall debacle comes to mind, in which 260 complaints purportedly related to ignition problems were submitted to the NHTSA yet apparently not acted on [1]. The NHTSA's defense is that 260 complaint records is not statistically significant...but...by their criteria, it seems that a lot of complaint trends would fall in that category. The bigger issue is that not enough information is gathered about the complaints to make an informed decision about recalls. Sure, but can the regulators (or carmakers) honestly say that the people who would prioritize such fact-finding are fully aware of what the complaints data (all which can be downloaded by anyone from the NHTSA website [2]) contains at any given point? It's not about taking action when the truth is encapsulated perfectly in a database, but making the effort to sift that database efficiently for leads.
tldr: there's a lot of room for improvement and innovation in filtering feedback for further investigation and action, not just in prisons but much of the public sector.
(for simplicity's sake, I'm ignoring the obvious factor of companies/regulators deliberately and maliciously not giving a shit/covering-things up...which is of course, always something to be aware of)
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/business/auto-regulators-d...
Re: Yelp Prison Review Faxbot
#4But what of possible negative repercussions? I imagine that prison administrators that get poor reviews on Yelp are more likely than average to respond negatively to reviews received, and more likely than average to expend a lot of energy figuring out (even if they are wrong) who wrote the review, and exact revenge upon them. It would be less snarky, but maybe it would be better to send these faxes to state/federal e…
Off the top of my head I imagine that most prison administrators are political appointees and probably know far less about the actual conditions of the prison and are less removed from the day-to-day running than one might expect. They have the ability to enact top-down changes in operations, but generally have no motivation to do so. I would think feedback like this would be quite valuable to them, so they could gain a perspective on what's going on that isn't coming from their direct reports.
Re: Yelp Prison Review Faxbot
#5But what of possible negative repercussions? I imagine that prison administrators that get poor reviews on Yelp are more likely than average to respond negatively to reviews received, and more likely than average to expend a lot of energy figuring out (even if they are wrong) who wrote the review, and exact revenge upon them. It would be less snarky, but maybe it would be better to send these faxes to state/federal e…
Off the top of my head I imagine that most prison administrators are political appointees and probably know far less about the actual conditions of the prison and are less removed from the day-to-day running than one might expect. They have the ability to enact top-down changes in operations, but generally have no motivation to do so. I would think feedback like this would be quite valuable to them, so they could gai…
[deleted]
Re: Yelp Prison Review Faxbot
#6"Would not recommend to a friend..."
Re: Yelp Prison Review Faxbot
#7Cute, but I'd be concerned that automated unsolicited faxes are not necessarily something that people want to receive.
Re: Yelp Prison Review Faxbot
#8I teach computer science at a prison on a volunteer basis, and occasionally I've had to use Google Maps to get directions. Always amusing to see some one-star reviews of it as I find the address.
Re: Yelp Prison Review Faxbot
#9Pretty sure this violates the Yelp TOS. Certain it violates good taste.
Friend works as a psychiatric counselor in a max security facility for 20 years. Commutes 2 hours to and from work for safety reasons. Amazingly decent fellow. Really cares. Really tries to do the right thing.
I showed him this and his reply? "Fuck those guys."
From a job description: "Specific safety and security duties for wardens include approving security policies, assessing safety and security systems, managing internal investigations, managing prison intelligence operations, ensuring facility compliance with applicable standards and overseeing inmate classification systems. Human resource and budget duties include interviewing applicants, conducting staff development, promoting career advancement, compile budget requests, maintain staffing within financial constraints and set budget priorities, according to ACA. Correctional employees, including administrators, operate in a dangerous environment where inmate assaults and more dangerous incidents, such as riots, are a threat. Managing critical incidents is a significant part of a warden's job. Duties include drafting and reviewing emergency plans, ensuring the readiness of response teams and implementing emergency plans when an incident arises."
The last thing these people need is automated FAXes scraping one of the least reliable services on the web. It's shameful.
Re: Yelp Prison Review Faxbot
#10Pretty sure this violates the Yelp TOS. Certain it violates good taste. Friend works as a psychiatric counselor in a max security facility for 20 years. Commutes 2 hours to and from work for safety reasons. Amazingly decent fellow. Really cares. Really tries to do the right thing. I showed him this and his reply? "Fuck those guys." From a job description: "Specific safety and security duties for wardens include appro…
Your comment is spot-on imho.
I have done time in 6 state prisons, 2 federal prisons, two federal detention centers, and several county jails. As long as the inmates aren't killing each other, the warden/superintendent/sheriff doesn't care overmuch what goes on inside regarding the inmate experience.
That is, unless it makes him look good.