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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

#281

Post by mahathu »

vidarh wrote: post #200
Grustaf wrote: post #123

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.

The fact that most people opt out of doing so as soon as they can afford not to have to share should be a good indication that people value the privacy and comfort of not having to highly.

This is not the case, in Europe, me and almost all of my peers (friends, coworkers) choose to live in flatshares. Renting a studio apartment wouldn't be much more expensive but it's just more fun living with other people :)

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

#282

Post by throwaway2037 »

nickpp wrote: post #246
hiharryhere wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Residents have a say in how their city functions. A well run city balances the needs of its constituents - schools, access to shops, bus routes, community centres, parks, parking etc. It also balances the need of business, tourism operators, hospitality etc. None of that works when an operator like Airbnb ignores it all. Nimby’s give community consultation a bad name, but the alternative is the Wild West. No thanks.

So, basically, Not In My Backyard, no?

No, I think OP is advocating for a more balanced, community-oriented approach. The the moment AirBnB is a free-for-all, where externalities are unfairly borne by the local community. A better way would be to design a community-oriented system of rules that are applied when an owner wants to rent. For example, in this neighborhood, we allow up to X00 units to be rented during this quarter. It may change next quarter. (Or some regular period.) My point: Start small... let it grow, and allow for continuous community feedback.

Another way to interpret your comment, would be to replay the OP but substitue... hmm... oil/chemical refinery next to your house. Then how does it feel if random Internet stranger replies to your post: "So, basically, Not In My Backyard, no?" It sounds low empathy. My point: There are plenty of stories on HN/Twitter/Internet about living next door to a nitemare AirBnB rental that hosts loud drunken parties each weekend.

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

#283

Post by kingofpandora »

weird-eye-issue wrote: post #61
fastball wrote: post #37

As someone who added CAPTCHA to their own platform recently after resisting for years because of how much I hate them, I have to tell you that the unfortunate truth is that eventually bad actors ruin the party for everyone on every platform. CAPTCHA is necessary for the same reason locking your car/house is necessary. You can probably not do it 9 times out of 10 and it will be fine, but then that 1/10 happens, all yo…

Somebody tries to break into your house 10% of the time you leave?

> Somebody tries to break into your house 10% of the time you leave?

Option A: 10% of time their unlocked house is broken into.

Option B: The poster was using an analogy to illustrate a point.

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

#284

Post by vidarh »

Grustaf wrote: post #235
vidarh wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So would sleeping halls. Both models exists, yet in the developed world we tend to see either as a worst case crisis accommodation not as a viable alternative for long term accommodation. So yes, it solves problems in those places where lack of any accommodation is a big housing problem. That is important, but it affects a relatively small proportion even of the homeless (most homeless are not "rough sleepers" who en…

Sharing bathrooms is not the same as "substandard accommodation". That's the point. You can (and do) build perfectly modern, clean, safe high standard living quarters with shared bathrooms. You can also find terrible slum apartments with private bathrooms.

You can. You wouldn't find buyers or renters without discounts far exceeding the cost savings, because it's seen as substandard, however.

If anything, even places where space is extremely costly, one clear way of judging relative luxury level is the ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms.

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

#285

Post by vidarh »

mahathu wrote: post #281
vidarh wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that most people opt out of doing so as soon as they can afford not to have to share should be a good indication that people value the privacy and comfort of not having to highly.

This is not the case, in Europe, me and almost all of my peers (friends, coworkers) choose to live in flatshares. Renting a studio apartment wouldn't be much more expensive but it's just more fun living with other people :)

A proportion of young people sometimes do for limited periods, sure, but "almost all of your peers" do not change the fact that most people opt out of it, and even more opt out of sharing with strangers. Even with flat shares, there's a premium on flats with en suite bathrooms, because people tend to opt out of sharing if the price difference allow them to. Of course it's not the only thing people care about - a good enough location or high enough standard can overcome more sharing.

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

#286

Post by throwaway2037 »

ehnto wrote: post #4

I don't see why if I got my credentials right, I have to prove I am not a robot. What if I wanted a robot to access my account on my behalf?

If I recall correctly, GitLab has a concept of "keys" (akin to SSH keys) that you can grant for your account. On of the categories is API -- which is specifically for this use case. If I ran my own commercial website, I would probably also disallow robot logins for the UI. It seems like too much trouble with no commecial upside. However, I could imagine allowing robot accounts to access tiny sliver of the API.

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

#287

Post by throwaway2037 »

dannyw wrote: post #6
ehnto wrote: post #4

I don't see why if I got my credentials right, I have to prove I am not a robot. What if I wanted a robot to access my account on my behalf?

Because they can't distinguish that from a robot ran by a malicious hacker trying to access other people's accounts using stolen credentials. Particularly for Airbnb, who deals with travelers (visits from international locations; shared IP ranges like airport wifi and cgNAT, etc).

Your last sentence is interesting. I never considered that AirBnB needs to battle more of this hard-to-distinguish traffic. In another thread on this page, someone else mentioned that -- when logged in with your Google account -- various Google sites/assets never show CAPTCHAS, because it has so much information about your account that they can reliably predict if you are human or robot. I'm surprised they don't offer this as a feature to 3rd party commercial websites. "Add Google login and we can remove 99% of your CAPTCHAS (but you have to be X cents per login)."

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

#288

Post by throwaway2037 »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #10
kashnote wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume they’re trying to fight against bots buying up “hot” Airbnbs that sell out quickly. It’s a weird captcha for sure, but understandable why they wouldn’t want bots accessing the site.

Wait, what does a robot do once it rents a house?

This sound like a great idea for Futurama (TV show) episode with Bender (the robot).

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

#289

Post by newsbinator »

slaw wrote: post #190
Lich wrote: post #154

Just a tip, if you find a place that looks nice to book on airbnb, try checking for booking directly. I found a place on airbnb and was in a hurry, but later when I checked the cabin rental's website, I found that the money I spent in fees to airbnb could get me an upgrade to a much nicer cabin if I had booked directly with the cabin rental company.

Many times you can find the same place with search for apartments on booking.com. You will get full address and most of the times cheaper.

4 times out of 5 I find the price on booking.com to be 20% ~ 40% cheaper than the price on the place’s own website. Even when I call them for a price like booking.com (because I hate giving Booking my money), the place says the best price is on Booking and I should book there.

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

#290

Post by throwaway2037 »

Rygian wrote: post #17
ehnto wrote: post #4

I don't see why if I got my credentials right, I have to prove I am not a robot. What if I wanted a robot to access my account on my behalf?

No can do. You would be in breach of the AirBNB terms of service: "Do not use bots, crawlers, scrapers or other automated means to access or collect data or other content from or otherwise interact with the Airbnb Platform. "

Hey... Real Question: How about JAWS (screen reader) software [1] users that are blind / visually disabled? Do those assistant tools count? Can someone do something like control JAWS programatically and navigate website UIs using a robot? It seems possible. I am sure JAWS has a crazy web browser footprint. (I have seen videos at my office where a junior trader was blind and using JAWS on Bloomberg and a trading app. The sound was so fast that it sounded like jibberish... but she could move around super fast.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAWS_(screen_reader)

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