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Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

chriszf.posterous.com

111–120 of 122 posts

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#112
post #97
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although if you really think about it, what other option does yelp have. Have a competently professional security policy with recourse to appeal at the door if they're going to host events for people? Or, you know, just look like amateurs.

Yelp is not in the personnel security business, so I don't think they really care what you think about the security policy of their building (which is most likely supplied by a third party contractor anyway, as is the case in my building, and most others). What it really comes down to if you don't like their policy, don't host your meetup there.

Similarly, Yelp isn't in the accounting business, so they have no obligation to pay taxes or payroll. (If employees don't like it, they shouldn't work there.)

By having a security policy, they are in the security business, and they're doing it wrong.

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#113
post #112
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yelp is not in the personnel security business, so I don't think they really care what you think about the security policy of their building (which is most likely supplied by a third party contractor anyway, as is the case in my building, and most others). What it really comes down to if you don't like their policy, don't host your meetup there.

Similarly, Yelp isn't in the accounting business, so they have no obligation to pay taxes or payroll. (If employees don't like it, they shouldn't work there.) By having a security policy, they are in the security business, and they're doing it wrong.

>By having a security policy, they are in the security business

This is not true. A company should only be considered to be in the security business if their profit is driven or at least depends upon offering security to others.

By the logic of your post, any company that has computers that they have to manage would be in the 'IT' business.

The reality is that to run a company, a variety of things must be done to allow it to exist that do not define the business of the company.

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#114
post #111

I think there is only one thing you can do: Leave a negative review about the place on Yelp. http://www.yelp.com/biz/yelp-san-francisco

The results may vary. If Yelp pays ridiculous amounts to itself for an advertising campaign, the review probably won't show up. If Yelp didn't pay for an advertising campaign, then it will show for sure.

It's not like we are talking about a particularly ethical company!

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#115
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had another 9 students inside, and the talk was worthwhile for them. Furthermore, the problem was not with the organizers (who were generous and accommodating) or the speakers (who were similarly generous), but with the venue. Nothing would have been solved by protesting: I'm not important enough that anyone would have noticed.

What if they refused to let her in because she was black? Here they are practically claiming she is a terrorist. The principle is the same. By sending her out you validate their discrimination, which is based on falsehoods and lies.

  What if [..]
We can all sketch awful situations in which the appropriate course of action is obvious. This is not one of those cases.

  By sending her out you validate their discrimination [..]
No, you acknowledge they have authority in the situation.

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#116
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, Yelp isn't in the accounting business, so they have no obligation to pay taxes or payroll. (If employees don't like it, they shouldn't work there.) By having a security policy, they are in the security business, and they're doing it wrong.

>By having a security policy, they are in the security business This is not true. A company should only be considered to be in the security business if their profit is driven or at least depends upon offering security to others. By the logic of your post, any company that has computers that they have to manage would be in the 'IT' business. The reality is that to run a company, a variety of things must be done to all…

So if you're not in the IT business, does that mean you don't have to do backups? Or does it mean that if you have computers, you damn well better understand the IT business and do it the same way the professionals do?

In this case, Yelp's security policies are stupid. They're not making money from security, but that doesn't mean they get to be stupid.

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#117
post #11

> But here I was, helpless. The only thing I could do was direct her to BART and join the rest of the class inside ... or pull the class out and refuse to attend it out of principle?

I had another 9 students inside, and the talk was worthwhile for them. Furthermore, the problem was not with the organizers (who were generous and accommodating) or the speakers (who were similarly generous), but with the venue. Nothing would have been solved by protesting: I'm not important enough that anyone would have noticed.

You should give the venue a negative review on Yelp.

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#118
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would have demonstrated that moral authority is on the side of the student who was wronged. It doesn't matter whether or not they change their policy, what matters is that you went along with excluding a student for no reason. EDIT: Sorry, this came off a bit too personally. I'm a teacher too and I got angry when I read this story. I'll just say more generically that it is easily possible (and justifiable) for a…

I don't get the teacher-blaming here. Imagine you're a student in that class; you're stoked to see this talk, but one of your classmates can't get in. You feel terrible but you've been looking forward to this. If the teacher decides to "stick it to the man", you and 8 other of your classmates miss out and possibly become bitter towards the excluded one because of Yelp's security measures. His having to direct her to…

I think this is not so much teacher blaming as wishing to put additional pressure on Yelp for being terrible dickheads, via those teachers. If nobody ever stands up to bullies they just keep doing their thing.

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#119
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, Yelp isn't in the accounting business, so they have no obligation to pay taxes or payroll. (If employees don't like it, they shouldn't work there.) By having a security policy, they are in the security business, and they're doing it wrong.

>By having a security policy, they are in the security business This is not true. A company should only be considered to be in the security business if their profit is driven or at least depends upon offering security to others. By the logic of your post, any company that has computers that they have to manage would be in the 'IT' business. The reality is that to run a company, a variety of things must be done to all…

This is absolute pedantry. Nobody claimed that Yelp is offering services within the security industry. They are "in the business" in the sense that they are concerning themselves with security to such an extent that they have a policy and are kicking people out of events based on a blacklist (after the fashion of an authoritarian government).

Since they are doing it they should be concerned with doing it right.

If computers are critically important to a company (as they are for many web companies) then they are expected to manage them in an intelligent way. That doesn't mean that web companies are all acting as ISPs, but it is absolutely routine and expected for them to take various measures to maintain their computing infrastructure correctly. It's irrelevant that they are not selling computers.

It is totally irrelevant that Yelp is not selling security services to other companies.

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#120

I don't see the issue with businesses having a list of people who should not be admitted to a building no matter who guests them in. Certainly, fires were on a list of "do not enter" in a call center I worked at years ago, to avoid reprisal. My local Yelp seems to attract a different sort of troll considering the large amount of in-person interactions of its members and the psychopathic small-business owners who can'…

What is with phrases like "psychopathic small-business owners"? I don't understand why we are villainizing people who run small businesses.
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