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Accountability sinks

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281–290 of 316 posts

Re: Accountability sinks

#281
post #73
post #64

I remember experiencing this in one of the German airports/airlines and having that exact thought. It was this fully automated airport, where the checkin is self serviced and you only interact with computers. Eventually, when I inserted my boarding pass I had a printed piece of paper back that said that they had to change my seat from aisle to midseat I then tried to find someone to talk to the entire way, but comput…

It’s a way to fully automate a Brazil scenario. [ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_(1985_film) ] Since at least in that scenario, there were humans in the Bureaucracy that could (but didn’t particularly) feel bad. In this scenario, no humans need to be directly involved, which allows the scope and scale to be even more Dystopian.

Brazil iz good. Becauz dirty dogz got plugged!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088846/mediaviewer/rm557755905...

Meow!

Re: Accountability sinks

#282
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you perfectly understood the article. I don't get what you're complaining about. You agree but don't like the language?

Basically, yea. Maybe being pedantic. In certain fields, there is a serious and distinct difference between Accountability, Responsibility, Consulting, and Informing. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_ma... There’s a whole philosophy behind it. My spidey senses tingle when those words get misconstrued.

I get this, but I think we can recognize the author might not be from the same background. Which I think you can talk about the point while noting what language is used in your community.

After all, is it the words or the ideas behind the words that matter more? We should always be trying to improve our language, but I'm worried if we prioritize words over meanings. I feel it's an important thing considering how language is constantly evolving.

Re: Accountability sinks

#283
What the article describes seems like a parallel concept (and an important one.) I wouldn't call them Accountability Sinks, though, as they seem more like Accountability Avoiders. Here are things we might think of as sinks in the real world:

- "Sin Eaters"

- Corporations, especially companies that are spun off and take on all the debt of the original company

- Voluntary stool pigeons (in criminal organizations, etc.)

- Certain religious martyrs

Re: Accountability sinks

#284
post #92

>The comparisons to AI are obvious, in as much as delegating decisions to an algorithm is a convenient way to construct a sink. There is a flag on my LinkedIn account that bars me from getting a "follow-me" link on my profile. No one of their support team knows why. No one knows since when. No one knows when it will change. We are already living in this world.

sounds like a bug

Even if it were, still no one seems accountable to fix it.

Re: Accountability sinks

#285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do agree but also feel if people did this en masse, that system would get a rate limiter. After 2 claims per year you would be barred for being "vexatious"

Being realistic, if you have these sorts of issues more than twice a year there's probably something wrong and you should fix that. Everyone has a few of those stories, but the only people who consistently have them are likely looking for trouble and picking fights.

And that's exactly the line and slander they would use when they bring in new legislation to stop "abuse" of the system. You've proven my point

Re: Accountability sinks

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Deutsche Bahn AG is in fact a private Aktiengesellschaft(which is to say a stock company) with the german gov't owning 100% of the shares. I'd very much argue that it is run mostly like a private enterprise and only occasionally compelled by the government to act like a public service.

I would say Deutsche Bahn has managed to combine the disadvantages of public services with the disadvantages of private companies into one coherently terrible package.

Well it's pretty much the same with the SNCF in France. However, surprisingly it is still more reliable than the DB (less accident, more on time); which is quite shocking considering German's reputation...

Re: Accountability sinks

#288
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's not. It's bureacracy, and it exists in every big organisation, private or public. I'd actually suggest that public sector bodies are often worse for this.

They are only worse because they are bigger. If the private replacement organization gets as big, they get the same problems.

There is still a meaningful difference. Businesses usually need to have some profit even if minimum so they will run leaner for the same output because of efficiency.

I agree that there are many big businesses bureaucracies but they tend to be in areas closely linked to the state/government because of heavy regulation: banks and insurance for example. They tend to survive despite their terrible efficiency because it is way too costly to enter their business for a small actor. Any of their real competitors is already big enough that the bureaucracy is already well established...

Re: Accountability sinks

#289
post #120
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a sad experience and I would definitely try to chase them robots. Sadly even though German public transport fascinates with its ease of use and quality, though when it comes to human service you can find yourself in peculiar position. And particularly if you are not German and happen to be in one of those international cities there where Germans are fed up with visitor. You waive goodbye to your 50€ and keep a…

>German public transport fascinates with its ease of use and quality Ease of use maybe, although my parents and grandparents would like to argue differently. They are not as quick to work their smartphone, and the ticket machines are being removed everywhere to be replaced by apps that are much cheaper to run. This works fine for the younger generations, but older and less tech-savvy people are getting left behind. Q…

I was in Berlin earlier this year and everything too contactless payment, no app required.

Re: Accountability sinks

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the process of getting the money is reasonably straightforward. Not always. The airlines often lie.

At least in my experience, I asked for compensation 3 times and got the money in every case (with different companies: American Airlines, United and Lufthansa). But I agree the system could be improved further.

I wasn't so lucky. KLM charged me twice for my ticket (probably because of connection issues when I was buying the ticket) and I wasn't able to get the money back from them because I was redirected between support and other departments, multiple times, and then getting ghosted...

Fortunately, I've used a debit card for the purchase, which made it possible to recover my funds by using chargeback.

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