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

I am an Uber survivor

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–290 of 841 posts

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#281

Post by gtirloni »

asymmetric wrote: post #247

This is terrible, and one more reason to despise Uber, but I find the usage of the word "survivor" out of place in this context, at least in my understanding of its meaning. I know this is not the main point to take home from this situation, and I also know I'll be attacked from making it, but I felt it was important nonetheless.

Her usage of "survivor" is appropriate both in terms of being alive (i.e. not committing suicide after traumatic experience) and being whole as a human being (i.e. having healed enough to function in society).

There are countless studies linking sexual harassment and intimidation to suicides, just look it up.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#282

Post by yummyfajitas »

cyberpunk wrote: post #222
soheil wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did a search of all current/past Uber employees based on public data mainly from LI, found only 6 people with those degrees and none were female. Did another search for people who worked as Data Analyst and worked at Uber came up with 6 different people again all male. As other answers suggest the information could be twisted, but definitely not "slightly".

What was your motivation for doing this? As soon as someone doesn't want to be associated with a story critical of anything, the salt is implicit isn't it? Considering the last few stories that have come out about how women are being treated in tech, what I've observed (and been enraged by) I'm pretty sure this happened/is happening still. Are you just trying to verify the legitimacy of the post? If someone finds the…

Are you just trying to verify the legitimacy of the post? If someone finds the courage to speak out, why would you then try to out them for doing so?

Because if it's not legitimate then it's worth knowing that? To me, this story seems far more suspicious than Fowler.

Does it even matter if it's faked if most of us could totally believe it's not?

Perhaps a variety of fake incidents have caused you to believe things that aren't true. Maybe the bigger problem being highlighted is also fake.

I recently had a conversation with someone telling me about a rape on a college campus. I told her I was skeptical. She said it was so common, why am I skeptical, and supported her case that it was common by citing Duke, Mattress Girl and UVA as examples. She was shocked when I suggested she google those incidents. Repeated fake incidents can cause people to change their priors.

So yes, the reason why "most of us could totally believe it's not" actually matters quite a lot.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#283

Post by Arizhel »

macsj200 wrote: post #246
tyre wrote: post #210

I'm really happy she felt comfortable doing this. What an incredibly brave and strong person—I can't imagine what she must be feeling. What I really want to see is the other 20 men on her team tell their bosses to cut that shit out. We cannot rely on the abused to stand up for themselves; for every one who does there are thousands who cannot. It is on every one of us to report abhorrent behaviour, even if we think so…

What specifically is the move forward here, though? I suppose hn as a community has the power to boycott applying to the company, but how else can we drive internal change from an external position? Uninstalling the app and simply choosing to use a competitor's services are another option, but sapping the entire organization of revenue seems like it would hurt drivers and developers at least as much as management, if…

The drivers aren't going to be hurt; half of them are already working for Lyft anyway (they have two phones, one for each service), so the rest will just move to the competition if Uber goes under, and they'll probably be better off for it anyway. Same goes for the developers; there's no shortage of jobs in Silicon Valley.

There is no way to change a company's internal culture from outside. The only thing you can do is punish it.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#284

Post by RodericDay »

spaceflunky wrote: post #260
brianpgordon wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eric Holder certainly does already have an existing business relationship with Uber- http://bigstory.ap.org/article/01685274cc944196af9016ad0a875...

Is it just me or are other people also constantly surprised by how many big names have their hands in the 'uber pot'? It's like there's a massive list of investors and shareholders who are all riding this "sure thing" to big riches. Which makes me wonder two things: 1.) is uber too big too fail? are there so many rich and powerful people invested that they will make uber succeed no matter or 2.) this thing could be t…

I hope they end up like Theranos.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#285

Post by Nadya »

cyberpunk wrote: post #222
soheil wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did a search of all current/past Uber employees based on public data mainly from LI, found only 6 people with those degrees and none were female. Did another search for people who worked as Data Analyst and worked at Uber came up with 6 different people again all male. As other answers suggest the information could be twisted, but definitely not "slightly".

What was your motivation for doing this? As soon as someone doesn't want to be associated with a story critical of anything, the salt is implicit isn't it? Considering the last few stories that have come out about how women are being treated in tech, what I've observed (and been enraged by) I'm pretty sure this happened/is happening still. Are you just trying to verify the legitimacy of the post? If someone finds the…

>Does it even matter if it's faked if most of us could totally believe it's not?

With the popularity of people crying "fake news" and the study recently hitting the front page of HN/Reddit that if you repeat a lie enough, people are more inclined to believe it [0], it bothers me to see a sentence like this. Yes, it matters a lot whether or not it is legitimate. "Fake news" never seems to matter to individuals if it supports their point of view.

Do you "totally believe it" because you've heard similar stories that are equally unverifiable or because you've had similar experiences? If it's because you've heard similar stories, how credible are those stories? Do you believe it because it has been repeated again and again? The last credible story along the "identity politics" line that I can remember offhand is "Donglegate" which I don't even take seriously, because it made a huge mess out of an immature joke that was overheard.

This whole "Even though it was a lie, I was trying to start a conversation!" is such a common tactic it's become a meme at this point and the fake victims "trying to start a conversation" are beginning to hurt the credibility of actual victims.

I pass no judgement on the credibility of the article - as I haven't read it. I came across this comment from /newcomments

[0] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022537177...

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#286

Post by cyberpunk »

soheil wrote: post #267
cyberpunk wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was your motivation for doing this? As soon as someone doesn't want to be associated with a story critical of anything, the salt is implicit isn't it? Considering the last few stories that have come out about how women are being treated in tech, what I've observed (and been enraged by) I'm pretty sure this happened/is happening still. Are you just trying to verify the legitimacy of the post? If someone finds the…

I am trying to verify its legitimacy, how can you silently accept such a critical post on face-value, no I don't work there. Giving voice to false claims intensifies their illegitimate power and in societies that this prevails that same power can be used by propagandists to advance their goal, so it's not about Uber it's about giving homage to truth, as every person's responsibility should be.

I've not accepted it as genuine at all; I'm saying that regardless of if it's real or not, the point here is that if it was it wouldn't surprise us..

I'd really really like it if we could get to the point where if stories like this came out for any company, we would be more surprised by them..

As for the illegitimate power (I'm not even sure what that is...) and propagandists comments; I don't really see how this fits into twist of those..

It's a story about some bad behaviour at a big tech company.. Is it a big deal? Individually; nah. As a general trend in tech that I've certainly experienced; yeah. Is it part of a propagandists plot to turn your country into a communist superstate and increase their "illegitimate power" -- I doubt it..

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#287

Post by dnautics »

Mitchhhs wrote: post #46
harryh wrote: post #31

Why would someone write an anonymous blog post but then declare that they are: 1) A woman in her late 20s 2) Who used to work at Uber in Engineering working on database and networking scalability 3) Went to a top private college 4) has a Masters in Information Systems 5) previous to Uber worked as a Data Analyst in a tech company in the Midwest and left when it was acquired by a Chinese firm 6) Is 5 foot 7 Caucasian…

Its one thing for the people who know her to know it was her, its another thing for the world. That is why.

in fact it's maybe even better if her colleagues know it was her since that may empower them to start taking action against uber or start taking action the next time they see this shit happen.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#288

Post by halayli »

Someone should build an app that can help in compiling such cases by automatically recording audio/vid anytime it hears a voice(s) we teach/specify (HR conversations, managers etc...) After some time I am sure the case solidifies with proofs.

Sometimes you don't have the opportunity to pull your phone and open a recording app. It needs to be like siri and friends where once it recognizes a voice it starts recording.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#290

Post by Arizhel »

>Besides, men outnumber women in tech by a very large margin. It's on our shoulders to help women fight back. Strength in numbers is a thing, and having men who speak up on their own, and who support and reinforce women who come forward can only a be a good thing.

Yes, but the problem is that most men in tech these days are "brogrammers" who approve of this behavior and engage in it themselves. Tech is no longer the domain of shy, introverted men who just liked to play with technology, like back in the 80s. Now it's full of misogynistic frat dudes. The change started during the dot-com boom, and has only gotten worse since then.

Post reply on HN