FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization • Hacker News Board

Re: FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization

#151

Post by goatsi » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 5:15 AM UTC

annadane wrote: post #149

mdoms wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah there's some very obvious astroturfing going on in this thread.

You're not allowed to say that on HN (I don't disapprove of you saying it however and I've said the same thing myself - the point of my comment is that it's ridiculous to disallow comments like that)

The rule for it is pretty straightforward, to quote dang about it:

>As I've tried to explain many times (https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...), there are two problems: (1) real abuse is happening on the internet; and (2) internet users frequently imagine that they're seeing such abuse when in reality they are merely seeing something they dislike. Both problems are serious, but for entirely different reasons, and we need to be careful not to confuse them, since (2) is extremely common, indeed is the laziest internet production that exists. Allowing people to do #2 everywhere (so to speak) could easily destroy the community.

>Fortunately, a simple rule turns out to suffice: don't post accusations of abuse unless you have some bit of evidence to go on. Someone else having a different view than you does not count as evidence. You need at least a shred of something objective, and if you don't have that, then you can't post accusations. Since the overwhelming majority of #2 posts have no evidence, that rules them out. Getting people to actually follow this rule is a different issue of course.

What compelling evidence do you have?

Re: FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization

#152

Post by greenie_beans » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 5:16 AM UTC

jimrandomh wrote: post #88

There's a bit of a story behind this. Oculus is owned by Facebook, but the Facebook website and the Oculus headsets/software are by different teams working in different states. When Facebook bought Oculus, they decided to get rid of the Oculus-specific account system and use only Facebook accounts. The Facebook account requirement took effect with the launch of the Oculus Quest 2, which launched in October 2020. Octo…

Is this supposed to justify FB’s poor support for hacked accounts? Or are you just telling stories?

It’s a good story, at least.

Re: FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization

#153

Post by supervisual » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 5:20 AM UTC

jpollock wrote: post #85

hangonhn wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was literally the only way I got help after someone somehow managed to registered one of my email address under a Facebook account I don't control and tried to impersonate me. I don't even know how that was possible since FB does email verification. I tried the normal help system but got nowhere so I reached out to my friends who work at FB. One of them used the internal help system it was resolved within a coup…

Whenever someone's used my email address, I've used password recovery and taken ownership of the account. It's amazing the number of systems which don't verify email before giving out an account. I've taken control of: Disney DropBox Redbox ...

I highly highly recommend against doing this!!!! By doing a password recovery you are on the hook for any illegitimate content that the person might have uploaded/shared and might get you in real legal trouble. Instead I recommend filing a complaint without claiming the account.

Re: FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization

#154

Post by hnick » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 5:26 AM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #145

gruez wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CFAA, for one.

The question is whether using someone else's email address is equivalent to an implicit grant of the account to someone else's control.

I doubt it. What if it's a typo? There are at least 3 people who I get emails (and bank statements) for in my first.last@gmail.com address, and from what I can tell it's because they dropped the middle initial when signing up or the person mailing them did it manually and messed it up.

And because Gmail treats that dot differently else I have some interesting cases like where I have 2 Instagram accounts under my email, one with it and one without, and it's not always clear which one the email is for until I expand the details. I have been tempted to log in and shut these down, but I'm pretty sure that is illegal. However some sites require me to log in to unsubscribe or contact support so into the spam they go.

Re: FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization

#155

Post by toast0 » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 5:27 AM UTC

samename wrote: post #122

Impossible wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 6 month priorities are due to PSC, Facebook's performance review cycle. Work that took more than a half effectively doesn't count for bonuses or promotions and could possibly get you fired, so it's disincentivized.

Are you saying projects are highly encouraged to be completed within just 6 months?

FB policy says they want to reward results and not effort. But it makes it hard to reward people for making progress on things that can't be done in 6 months.

It also makes for shitty service quality around the end of June and December, as people rush to push things to prod. (I've heard this may have changed, but it's hard to notice good service quality).

(Former FB employee)

Re: FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization

#156

Post by rincebrain » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 5:32 AM UTC

greenie_beans wrote: post #152

jimrandomh wrote: post #88

There's a bit of a story behind this. Oculus is owned by Facebook, but the Facebook website and the Oculus headsets/software are by different teams working in different states. When Facebook bought Oculus, they decided to get rid of the Oculus-specific account system and use only Facebook accounts. The Facebook account requirement took effect with the launch of the Oculus Quest 2, which launched in October 2020. Octo…

Is this supposed to justify FB’s poor support for hacked accounts? Or are you just telling stories? It’s a good story, at least.

To me, it seems more like "this is how this isle of happiness exists despite everything" than "this is why the ocean of sadness exists".

Re: FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization

#157

Post by visarga » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 5:33 AM UTC

odux wrote: post #104

kilobaud wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seriously dont think email, search, or direct-messaging services sound _anything_ like the telephone or the postal service or the radio?

The are critical pieces of the modern world yes. But not a utility. One cannot live without a utility and utilities generally have a monopoly in most places. If my power or water company bans me for some reason I am toast. I have to endure undue hardship to get something that provides may be 10% of the utility (own well, water pump, generator...). Internet itself (the pipes) on the other hand are probably a utility.…

> But search, email etc are like cars in the US.

The big players in search, email, social have a larger market share than the big car producers. There's no 'Google' or 'Facebook' of cars.

Re: FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization

#158

Post by visarga » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 5:35 AM UTC

SilverRed wrote: post #90

weare138 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe hire some people to handle it? But that would cost them money. That's why companies like Google and Facebook have crap support. The cost of not having it hasn't exceeded the cost of implementing it.

The people are the problem, they can be tricked in to giving access to the wrong person. That's why I'm suggesting some kind of identify verification service is the only safe way. It is not reasonable to have every service have it's own identity verification venue in every city so it would have to be centralized some how.

That puts all the power in the hands of this identity verification system. They could ban a product or person with no recourse, and be even more centralized (monopolistic).

Re: FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization

#159

Post by eru » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 5:37 AM UTC

MikeUt wrote: post #127

jimrandomh wrote: post #88

There's a bit of a story behind this. Oculus is owned by Facebook, but the Facebook website and the Oculus headsets/software are by different teams working in different states. When Facebook bought Oculus, they decided to get rid of the Oculus-specific account system and use only Facebook accounts. The Facebook account requirement took effect with the launch of the Oculus Quest 2, which launched in October 2020. Octo…

So FB can take over the VR market by over-moderating FB, and making Oculus a requirement to get support. Looks very anti-competitive and illegal.

Huh? Facebook could even should down the Oculus stuff, if they wanted to.

Facebook making Oculus worse might be bad for customers, but it's great for Oculus' competition, ain't it?

Re: FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization

#160

Post by d110af5ccf » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 5:39 AM UTC

supervisual wrote: post #153

jpollock wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever someone's used my email address, I've used password recovery and taken ownership of the account. It's amazing the number of systems which don't verify email before giving out an account. I've taken control of: Disney DropBox Redbox ...

I highly highly recommend against doing this!!!! By doing a password recovery you are on the hook for any illegitimate content that the person might have uploaded/shared and might get you in real legal trouble. Instead I recommend filing a complaint without claiming the account.

No, you aren't. Certainly someone might try to claim that it had been you. Worst case I suppose you could actually end up in court but that's true for pretty much any accusation.

I doubt it would be an issue in practice though. Far more likely is that you might inadvertently get caught up in a ban from the service due to the illicit content being linked to the account you recovered which would now be linked back to your metadata (IP address & etc) since you recovered it which would in turn link to your regular account.