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Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts

mcmansionhell.com

211–220 of 388 posts

Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's punching down I generally reject the premise of punching up versus down; but McMansion Hell is emphatically not punching down. Anyone who can afford a $1 million 5000+ square foot house deserves very little sympathy for their bad taste.

It's OK to be mean to people because of the socioeconomic class they belong to? They're all humans just like each other. I bet half of poorer people would opt to design their own house in an ugly way if they had the chance. They just don't have the chance. Some of them certainly try hard though: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/543809723727647414

> It's OK to be mean to people because of the socioeconomic class they belong to?

No, see the first sentence where I say I generally reject the premise of the whole concept of punching up and down (I think there is such a thing as bad tactics). My point was, however, that if you're gonna use that framework, perhaps one percenters buying ugly houses aren't exactly a sympathetic group. Even more importantly, the OP misses the entire reason punching up and down is a thing. Being rich enough to afford a McMansion means you're pretty much guaranteed to be highly privileged. It'd be pretty silly, if you're going to talk about punching up and down, to believe that ridiculing the rich with bad taste is anything but a big ol' shoryuken. I mean, even I, someone who thinks you should treat people kindly regardless of background, roll my eyes at the thought of McMansion owners feelings being hurt because people think their houses are ugly.

Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts

#212
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see any pretence, I really don't.

You don't see any pretentiousness in driving around judging a bunch of people on their houses and just ragging on how terrible they are? Really? You might want to look harder.

pre·ten·tious - adjective - attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.

The irony here is that her blog rags on the pretentiousness of houses designed to look like better built/designed houses. McMansions are by definition pretentious.

Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts

#213
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see any pretence, I really don't.

You don't see any pretentiousness in driving around judging a bunch of people on their houses and just ragging on how terrible they are? Really? You might want to look harder.

What do you believe she's pretending to be?

Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts

#214
post #54

Zillow may be being feeling pressure to enforce photograph copyright because of this lawsuit: http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2017/02/13/zillow-o...

That's hilarious. Zillow used someone else's images without consent to sell remodelling programs and thought that the subsequent lawsuit against them was "without merit" (quoting above link).

Bonus points to McMansionHell if they use only quotes from Zillow in their defence!

Some relevant info:

* https://www.scribd.com/document/339052523/VHT-v-Zillow - jury verdict

* https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1617640/000119312517... - notice to SEC that Zillow intends to appeal

* https://www.vedderprice.com/takeaways-from-vht-v-zillow-for-... - "Takeaways From VHT V. Zillow For Website Owners"

Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts

#215

McMansion Hell is exactly the shock therapy the United States needs. Someone lend this blogger a hand!

She does have a Patreon. As much as I hate the fact that we now need to crowsource these things, I think this is one avenue for us non-lawyer-adjacent folks.

I've been a supporter for a while. I don't even have particular hate for McMansions, but I learned a lot about architecture from reading her.

Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts

#217

On what grounds can they sue? Isn't this pure free speech? It looks like the only references to Zillow ever are citations that the photos come from their website http://www.mcmansionhell.com/search/zillow

Likely copyright over the photographs. Realistically, it's fair use since it's transformative and used for critique. Unfortunately, fair use laws only apply in the US if you have lots of lawyer money, so they don't really matter for normal folks.

Does "used in critique" apply? If the critique was of the photos themselves that would seem to be in the spirit, but the photos are just lifted in order to critique the house.

Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in Northern Virginia among these McMansions, and frankly I don't buy the elitism angle. These folks have a lot of money (top 5% at least, if not even top 1%) and are among the best educated in the country. And these aren't dwellings driven by the need for functionality. It's not like people here have big families they need to house (empty nesters can afford them more readily than people with families!). The…

"If you can't ridicule them for lacking taste you're basically saying that taste doesn't exist and everything is always subjective." Or perhaps you're against ridicule in general. Why is it your problem what sort of houses other people live in?

If they're living on the other side of the country, I don't care. If they're knocking down perfectly fine, correctly-scaled houses in my neighborhood in order to build huge monstrosities that parasitize the aesthetic niceness of the neighborhood that is due in large part to correctly-sized and shaped houses then I get upset.

Example happening in my town: builder buys a normal-sized house on a large lot for $800K. Knocks the house down, subdivides the lot, and builds two bigger houses on each lot, and sells each for $950K. If anyone complains, they get written off as a NIMBY who is opposed to density.

Due to local regulations, you need more driveway curb cuts, so the tree-lined street starts to become less tree-lined. You now have two 3-story townhouse style homes right up next to mid-century ranches or bungalows or Cape Cods and it looks garish.

Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly could not finish that video. She is as pretentious as the home owners she criticizes.

>All of these things combine together to form this thing that's really easy to dislike because, it's like, pretentious. Yeah screw these people living in their hard earned home! Their windows are wrong!

A home being hard earned does not preclude the possibility of it being ugly and worthy of ridicule (from an aesthetic point of view).

Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was absolutely hilarious, and informative. He would show photos from listings of excessively large, poorly made mansions (or 'McMansions'). He'd point out all the design flaws, and architectural mistakes, then laugh at the excessive price tag. Apart from the humour, it was super interesting. If I look at a picture of a house, there's no way I can notice water damage, mis-matched windows, or just shitty door placem…

Just wanted to point out that He is a She. https://twitter.com/mcmansionhell Keep up the good fight, Kate. You've taught me how to appreciate good (and bad! ) architecture. Also I question the construction of houses now which is something I've never done before, so thank you.

Ah crap. Sorry Kate, I shouldn't have presumed. Internalised sexism got me.
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