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

Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 399 posts

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#321

Post by pabloiv »

I really hope this incident doesn't break her spirit. As someone who's been shot at, beat up, robbed, held up, and still trusts people: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

That said, I also rent out my place through AirBnB. (http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/106355) I interview everyone who stays with me through Skype before confirming any reservation. AirBnB, has a very classy membership, and we've had great experiences with all our guests, but due diligence is still a must. Communicating with your potential guests is essential, as is reading between the lines. You should also make an effort to look at their face at least once before booking. Skype is perfect for this and AirBnB doesn't block it.

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#323

Post by kragen »

dlss wrote: post #165
michaeldhopkins wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the service expands, regular people's homes (with unrestorable personal value and charm) will be replaced with commercial properties using airBnB as just another advertising channel. When that happens the fresh appeal will be gone and airBnB will be successful if they have become popular and stable enough that an airBnB listing is mandatory for people in the property management business.

I hope this happens soon. The risk/reward trade-offs don't seem to be understood by most AirBnB landlords (99.99% chance of earning $100, 0.01% chance of losing $50k+). Even though this is strongly positive expected value, for a family that can't afford to lose $50k this is a game of russian roulette. My heart goes out to the author of this; I hope the person who did this to her is put in jail, and the system (AirBnB…

I think you are dramatically overstating the risk at 0.01%. Suppose past performance predicts future results. AirBnB has had, what, 10 million rental deals? And this has only happened, as far as we can tell, once. That's not an 0.01% risk. It's more like 0.000001%.

Overstating the risk by a factor of ten thousand is a very substantial exaggeration.

It's hard for human beings to understand very large and very small numbers, so to put that in context, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_traffic_safety says about ten people are killed per billion vehicle kilometers in most developed countries, so perhaps five people per billion passenger kilometers. So you have a one in ten million chance of getting killed by riding about twenty kilometers in a car.

Surely you would not advocate making laws to "protect" "the average person" "from unknowingly gambling with their family's future" by traveling tens of kilometers by car, thus possibly orphaning their children?

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#324

Post by evilduck »

matdwyer wrote: post #215

I just was quoted in a national article here in Canada (the Globe & Mail) that talked about using AirBNB... I've passed this story along to the author who is going to see about a followup. This wont stop me from using AirBNB as a guest, but I was never comfortable with renting my own home anyway. edit - if AirBNB kept a drivers license scan on file to confirm the credit card was the users, that would be helpful. I kn…

if AirBNB kept a drivers license scan on file to confirm the credit card was the users

Don't credit card companies prohibit this?

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#325

Post by pbhjpbhj »

ZoFreX wrote: post #308
dbingham wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I don't think that means what you think it means." That experiment deals with ability to disobey authority, not with the basic goodness of the people performing the actions. Nearly 100% of the people performing the actions questioned what they were doing. That indicates they knew it was wrong, instinctively and didn't wish to do it. But we are well trained to listen to authority, and the authority figure was telling…

I don't find it that surprising, given that we are taught from birth to obey authority figures (parents, family, teachers, policemen) /without question/. It's perhaps a useful simplification in early life but is one I've long-considered harmful.

>given that we are taught from birth to obey authority figures (parents, family, teachers, policemen) /without question/

One of the important aspects I'm trying to maintain with my kids is a right to reply and express their opinion. My eldest's teacher goes against this, she demands "do it first time" whilst I demand a response - he can refuse but he can't ignore a request, if he can reason his way out/in to something then that's far better IMO than blind obedience.

It can be a useful simplification in the sense that one needs a child to obey commands like "don't touch the hot stove" and "don't run in to the road" ("stop" covers both).

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#326

Post by njharman »

Yeah, guess people are different. I would NEVER invite strangers to be in my house alone. Esp not with my stuff still there. I can't comprehend why anyone would. Can't understand how airbnb is popular service. But, it is. Like I said people are different...

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#327

Post by naner »

varunsrin wrote: post #26

I always found AirBnB's model based on a surprising amount of trust - I for one would never be comfortable just handing over they keys to my place to a total stranger. Even if they didn't ransack my place completely, as happened to the unfortunate author - I would be concerned about unintentional damage to my property that I might not discover till too late. Renting out something as private as my primary place of res…

I can't believe anyone would rent out their home. I assumed most people rented out spare properties, not their primary residence.

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#328

Post by grannyg00se »

"They ... found the passport, cash, credit card and grandmother's jewelry I had hidden inside. They found my birth certificate and social security card, which I believe they photocopied "

Why would you leave your birth certificate and social security card behind when you have strangers occupying your home?

Passports, ids, hard drives, diamonds .... these are all small but very important items that fit perfectly into a safety deposit box.

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#329

Post by pbhjpbhj »

xster wrote: post #254
edw519 wrote: post #147

I get angry when I realize I will never again be who I've always been before, someone who lived strong and free by the creed that people are essentially good, that if you think optimistically, trust others. Please don't let them steal this too. I'm really sorry for your bad experience, but remember: - You can still live strong and free. - People are still essentially good. - You can still think optimistically. - You…

Key takeaway from your story: you're still healthy and unharmed. All the material stuff is superficial, the only thing of real value is you.

>All the material stuff is superficial, the only thing of real value is you.

Our house was broken in to by youths looking for drug money. It took me a couple of years to get over the sense of not wanting to trust people.

The sense of betrayal was considerably enhanced by two factors - I was on a neighbourhood committee with the mother of one of the youths that broke in; an amount of cash was taken that belonged to a group that we volunteered with to help children on the estate from whence the youths came.

IMO the greatest harm was stealing [for a time] my trust in others.

People kept empathising with me as to how violated we must feel, how awful having people in our home. None of that mattered to us really though.

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#330

Post by ZoFreX »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #325
ZoFreX wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't find it that surprising, given that we are taught from birth to obey authority figures (parents, family, teachers, policemen) /without question/. It's perhaps a useful simplification in early life but is one I've long-considered harmful.

> given that we are taught from birth to obey authority figures (parents, family, teachers, policemen) /without question/ One of the important aspects I'm trying to maintain with my kids is a right to reply and express their opinion. My eldest's teacher goes against this, she demands "do it first time" whilst I demand a response - he can refuse but he can't ignore a request, if he can reason his way out/in to somethi…

One of the examples I normally bring out for this is the case of me being told off by a teacher for insisting that my spelling of a word was correct and theirs was wrong. This (excuse for a) teacher insisted that it had no bearing at all that my spelling was indeed correct, and that I was in the wrong for disagreeing regardless. Needless to say, I adopted a slightly different teaching style.
Post reply on HN