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Tell HN: Airbnb just stole me 5 minutes of my time adding dices

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Re: Tell HN: Airbnb just stole me 5 minutes of my time adding dices

#271
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure I agree with your “opressive” high-IQ developers spin, but it’s clear that whoever implements this kind of captcha (even the not-so-challenging ones) doesn’t give a shit about user experience and deserve to metaphorically-speaking, burn in hell. I think it’s just an example for how developers should not make decisions about UI or UX in general. It doesn’t really matter how hard to solve the captcha is, it sh…

There are some very American ones such as the fire hydrants that really catch me out as someone who's not American, I can only imagine what it's like for those with English as a second language.

Oh ya, it's really funny.

It can be a problem even for Google Captcha.

Like:

- Taxies are not yellow in all countries

- Fire hydrants like that aren't a thing in many countries either (e.g. in Germany they are below a small hatch in the ground)

- US School Busses

- Even Street Signs can look and be placed very different.

- What is recognized as a shop/restaurant and similar based on the style of the sign board

But that is typical SV: Solving problems for the US from a US perspective and assuming it works in most countries.

But most countries are _not_ like the US.

Re: Tell HN: Airbnb just stole me 5 minutes of my time adding dices

#272
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're providing this market by removing housing from the local people, which drives them out and drives up prices for those who stay. This, in turn, forces all the inhabitants of a city out of it, thus ruining the character those inhabitants gave it. All so some tourist can 'live like a local', at the expense of the actual locals being able to live like a local. And it's wholeheartedly AirBnB's fault and problem. N…

At a large enough scale, I agree that there's an impact to locals. But don't tourists also boost the local economy, the travel industry and introduce different cultures themselves? It's not such a clear case that this is all negative. The lack of regulations is an issue of local governments not catching up to tech companies, as usual, not Airbnb's. > Basically, tourists aren't locals, they should have a right to live…

> What if those tourists do eventually become locals after staying at an Airbnb? Are you against migrants as well?

The fact you are conflating these two issues and even asking this question indicates how anyone should interpret your overall argument.

Re: Tell HN: Airbnb just stole me 5 minutes of my time adding dices

#273

I see this as high-IQ software developers building systems to shut out non-high-IQ people from society. Managers look at these CAPTCHAs and think "oh I could solve these no problem, let's use them". In fact, they can only be solved by unusually smart people or by ML bots. Arkose Labs (the maker of this particular captcha) explicitly advertises that their methods can keep out "low-skilled workers" on "human fraud farm…

I thought these captcha companies made money by selling image classification services? Isn’t it possible that someone wanted these dice images classified for some machine learning project to do with dice?

Re: Tell HN: Airbnb just stole me 5 minutes of my time adding dices

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have met people who can't and people who won't. Also, a lot of people in their 50s and above aren't solving this.

I’m 43. What exactly happens once I turn 50 that I will no longer be able to add a couple of single digit numbers? Incidentally, how old are you, and do you have any involvement with IT hiring?

A study was making the rounds last week saying that the brain stays "sharp" until 60. Presumably 60 is an average which means people in their 50s will start to see some decline.

Re: Tell HN: Airbnb just stole me 5 minutes of my time adding dices

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In fact, they can only be solved by unusually smart people Wut? Have you actually ever met a person who can't? I always suspected the electoral majority is not particularly bright (which sort of contradicts the idea of near-100 being an average IQ nevertheless) but if this is "unusually smart" then things feel really creepy.

I have met people who can't and people who won't. Also, a lot of people in their 50s and above aren't solving this.

I think you would need some statistics to back up the over 50s argument. If I were to give an instinctive opinion it would be that under 40s are poor at mental arithmetic because they have always had a machine to do it for them whereas over 50s can split a bill in their heads quite quickly.

Re: Tell HN: Airbnb just stole me 5 minutes of my time adding dices

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood this concept. Reddit is the worst, though at least you can argue that they probably have all the figures to back up the idea that engagement is much higher when they push someone onto the app. For a travel app which you are only using a few times a year I can't imagine this holds. It seems like it's product managers justifying their investment in the native applications in a lot of cases.

A company I worked for in the past explicitly made the mobile web version worse so people would use the app. They did it because with the app they could send offers through push notifications. Ugh.

It also is more likely when to users to come back after stopping using the app for a while if it's still installed and as such they can "stumble" about it.

Anyway the most well known example is probably YT which slowly reduced over time the functionality of their Web version for mobile, and also put things in to make it more annoying, too.

Re: Tell HN: Airbnb just stole me 5 minutes of my time adding dices

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've long since suspected that a small part of the housing crises in the developed world is due to the high minimum standards for apartments and housing.

It's not, it's due to greed and people (and corporations) living of rent.

Why do people keep ascribing high housing costs to some nebulous "greed"? Isn't all economic activity due to greed? Anyone trying to choose a lower priced thing to buy or trying to get paid a higher wage is also doing it because of greed.

The parent is right. Shanty towns are the extreme low-regulation end of housing and they're also extremely cheap. It's a matter of how bad we want to allow people to treat themselves and our standards for safety and comfort keep going up so cost does too.

Re: Tell HN: Airbnb just stole me 5 minutes of my time adding dices

#278
post #3

It's Arkose Labs (also used by Roblox, GitHub, Dropbox, Twitch, and more). There's some more links here: https://github.com/dessant/buster/issues/178 (Buster is a browser extension for automated captcha solving). You can subscribe here https://github.com/dessant/buster/issues/320 Their audio captcha (no longer available?) involved listening to 3 MIDI tunes and picking "the sad one".

> Their audio captcha (no longer available?) involved listening to 3 MIDI tunes and picking "the sad one". Given that a large part of the world doesn't use the major/minor dichotomy, or even equal temperament, this seems like a terrible way to verify someone is a human... My favourite recaptchas, if one can have such a thing, are the shape sequence selection ones as they don't make significant assumptions about cultu…

It feels like all of the captchas/alternatives are suffering the same problem of "computers are just better than people". By 2025, captchas will require in depth knowledge of American culture. I got this image from a time traveler: https://postimg.cc/3WrTbgmF

Re: Tell HN: Airbnb just stole me 5 minutes of my time adding dices

#279
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with sharing bathrooms? That's a dorm, or a youth hostel for that matter. It's totally fine. Pretty common all over the world, not just for the poorest.

We're presumably speaking about a shared bathroom in your home, not about travel accommodation. It would infringe upon a fundamental need for privacy that people have: having a space that is yours alone, where you are free to do whatever, without being observed by others. I've seen some (studio) apartments that have a private bathroom that outside the front door, but still inside the building. I would very much disli…

Sharing a bathroom is hugely common for students or young people (even young "professionals") living in flatshares in Europe.

Re: Tell HN: Airbnb just stole me 5 minutes of my time adding dices

#280
post #128
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been so turned off by the entire concept of AirBnB, ever since their practices ruined several cities I love with massive overtourism influence. Like so many tech companies, the influence has just gotten completely out of control in the modern world on a global scale.

Why would Airbnb be to blame for this? They're providing a market that fulfills demand for low cost or privately owned accommodations, competing directly with the established hotel industry. Not everyone wants or needs to stay in a hotel, and many people prefer the tourist experience facilitated by local hosts. Long-term rentals are also a convenient way to experience a location that doesn't involve complicated paper…

I have a friend who owns a condo in a building downtown that is almost empty of owner occupiers. The vast majority of the condos are rented out as airbnbs. She has no regular neighbours and most of the people she sees in the building are strangers.

When it reaches that level, it is a problem.

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