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A warning about Glassdoor

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Re: A warning about Glassdoor

#221

Do we have more evidence? I generally don't like to take the claims of a single anonymous poster at face value. I certainly appreciate the irony in this case.

Not hard evidence, but I researched this a lot because I noticed companies I had intimate knowledge of had any sub-4 star review disappear. I detailed the practices in another comment; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24793383

Re: A warning about Glassdoor

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the fundamental problem is trust, are you really suggesting that "it can't be hard to create" that trust?

A distributed trust network is a really interesting hard problem but does seem solvable in some ways (as seen by blockchains, though they have their own issues). I've wondered if a somewhat simplistic graph based solution could work, inspired by organizations like medieval guilds and the mafia, where you generally need to be invited to the trust network and promoted to be more trusted within the network as others vou…

Isn't this how recommendations in social networks work?

Re: A warning about Glassdoor

#223

Separate from the review issue, but does it seem that Glassdoor's salary estimates are low? The estimates in Glassdoor seem lower than those in levels.fyi, e.g., although it's hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison. It may also be because those who are lower paid are more likely to post, but it also seems worth pointing out that it would be in management's interest to report a lower salary estimate.

I was just wondering about this myself. I'm not sure if there's a clear incentive to game salary information. If a company posts a lower-than-real salary, they risk seeming less desirable than their competition to candidates, who may then apply elsewhere. If they post a salary that exceeds what employees are typically paid for the position, candidates will accidentally high-ball when asked about salary expectations.

Falsifying details about employment happiness and health of culture do have clear benefits for deceitful companies however.

Re: A warning about Glassdoor

#224
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are becoming Yelp.

I heard that Yelp lets you pay to have bad reviews sorted towards the bottom. I recently listened to a podcast episode [0], where the CEO claimed that is not true. Would be interested in evidence on either side. [0] - https://www.npr.org/2020/09/30/918845338/how-i-built-resilie...

This issue is complicated by the fact that there's a thriving ecosystem of marketers and scammers who operate around Yelp, and will call and tell you they work for Yelp and can have negative reviews removed and other things. So people really are getting these calls, it's just that it's a scam.

Re: A warning about Glassdoor

#225
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard that Yelp lets you pay to have bad reviews sorted towards the bottom. I recently listened to a podcast episode [0], where the CEO claimed that is not true. Would be interested in evidence on either side. [0] - https://www.npr.org/2020/09/30/918845338/how-i-built-resilie...

Lous Rossmann goes over this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYzK8Nny_Yo

Rossman exploded on Reddit with an Apple device repair rant several years ago, and then leaned super hard into that to keep his views up.

Much like Glassdoor, I find it hard to trust him since it’s clear he has a moneymaker. He’s incentivized to accuse the Big Corps of wrongdoing and he never has to back it up.

Re: A warning about Glassdoor

#226
post #157

Is the Glassdoor business model one that could truly benefit from blockchain?

i think any review based platform is good, then things can magically disappear when someone ponies up the cash to make an opinion they dont like go away.

Re: A warning about Glassdoor

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government regulation has its own obvious failure modes (various kinds of corruption, industry capture, or underfunding), so you can't say one is always better than the other. It all depends. There is no guaranteed solution. Hopefully some better Glassdoor competitor will come along.

The best defense against corruption is good pay for rank and file employees. Government can afford to pay employees decently despite opposition from the public and business because taxation is not voluntary. It's not an ideal situation obviously, but government is in the best position to buck financial incentives for corruption because it already has tax revenue to cover costs. Private companies don't have that luxur…

This is somewhat naive, but even if we grant the premise, it must be balanced against the built-in job security and predictable promotion schedule which is typical of government bureaucracies.

Less motive to take bribes? Yes, somewhat, although there's no amount of money where someone might not want some more. But a system where doing a good job is strictly supererogatory doesn't tend to lead to satisfactory outcomes either.

Re: A warning about Glassdoor

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government regulation has its own obvious failure modes (various kinds of corruption, industry capture, or underfunding), so you can't say one is always better than the other. It all depends. There is no guaranteed solution. Hopefully some better Glassdoor competitor will come along.

There's middle-ground between for-profit corporations and government. There are social purpose corporations, benefit corporations, non-profits, cooperatives, etc.

Yes, they should be considered too, but they have their own failure modes.

I guess what I’m saying is that an organization’s form of government isn’t a reliable indicator of its trustworthiness and you have to consider other signals as well.

Re: A warning about Glassdoor

#229
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard that Yelp lets you pay to have bad reviews sorted towards the bottom. I recently listened to a podcast episode [0], where the CEO claimed that is not true. Would be interested in evidence on either side. [0] - https://www.npr.org/2020/09/30/918845338/how-i-built-resilie...

This issue is complicated by the fact that there's a thriving ecosystem of marketers and scammers who operate around Yelp, and will call and tell you they work for Yelp and can have negative reviews removed and other things. So people really are getting these calls, it's just that it's a scam.

Isn't this just extortion and racketeering with extra steps.

"Hey I have this magic problem I created for you, now you have to pay me to fix it or your business will dry up."

Re: A warning about Glassdoor

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Online review systems are dead. Surely some must still be valid, but the well is poisoned, and nothing can be trusted.

We've come full circle. Word of mouth is all you can trust. The Internet as a great "disintermediation" medium is over.

Yup, the arbitrage (of utility & free exploration vs. corporate monetization) that the internet provided is receeding. Another example is Youtube. It used to to be free to watch videos; now there are multiple ads being shown. It's only a matter of time before it becomes exactly like cable tv, where you have ~3-5 minute ad breaks per 15 minutes AND a monthly payment. We're in the middle step, where you can pay Youtube Red OR watch multiple short/skippable ads. I'll give it 10 years before the internet becomes exactly like cable in the early 2000s.
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