I really enjoy using Zillow. But this is wrong. Not happy.
I doubt Zillow owns the images and probably has to do this to make the MLS's happy.
Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts
321–330 of 388 posts
Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts
#322I totally understand the whole "McMansions are bad architecture" thing... However, something about it really bothers me. There was an episode of 99% Invisible where the guest was talking about their McMansions blog and how it makes fun of these Horrid dwellings. The whole thing stank of classist elitism. The Wrong Type of people were getting the chance to design and build large houses, and of course they're applying…
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 [...]"
Good news, you can! I've checked with the pc police.
Not Ok: Black people, Mexicans, Women, Fat people.
Totally Ok: Rich people, white people, men, dumb people, old people, Southerners. Bingo: Rich (bing), old (bing), white (bing), dumb (bing) men (bing) from the south (jackpot).
Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I'm curious how just using a photo makes it "transformative". Those photos look straight up taken from one site and used on the next. (I ask as someones who's flickr photos ended up on the front page of a local paper... and was mildly annoyed, but it was promoting an event I work on.. had they just asked....) News organizations and documentaries pay lots of money to clear and use old stock news photos. I do enjoy the…
Her use does not compete with the copyright holder's use -- no one is going to buy her house or fail to license the photos because of the blog. (They may decide not to buy the McMansion because of the blog, but trying to use copyright to silence critiques of a house won't fly in court).
That argument does not apply to your photo, or stock photos from an archive. The distinction matters in the eyes of the law.
Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
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. Kno…
... how is that not being a NIMBY? You want fewer homes in your neighborhood (1 vs. 2 on a lot), on aesthetic grounds. What else did you think anyone meant by NIMBY?
I live in a 150-unit apartment building that houses about 300 people, on the edge of the neighborhood. I have no financial stake in the outcome either way, I just don't want to see something beautiful destroyed. I would much rather they put up another 150-unit building than tear down 75-100 houses to achieve the same outcome.
Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts
#325This brings to mind Nina Paley's "Copyright is Brain Damage":
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XO9FKQAxWZc
Paley is in the process of creating an epic animated story, using music appropriated with out rights, as a protest piece against copyright.
She addresses the question somewhat at her blog: http://blog.ninapaley.com/?s=copyright+is+brain+damage&submi...
If you're looking for a transcript, I'm not aware of one, though Techdirt addresses some of the points raised:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151022/23582332603/nina-...
Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
"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. Kno…
Sounds like Houston, in particular, Rice University Village.
Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts
#327Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe it will just take time for some of these design choices to be appreciated? Is a fake column on a house any different than fins on a 1959 Cadillac?
It's a good question. I'm not well-versed enough in design theory to answer, but I'll offer my opinion anyway. :-) The fins on a 1959 Cadillac are well-integrated (design-wise) on the car. It's a theme of the era and the car was designed from the ground up to look like a jet or a rocket. The design elements in a McMansion are not well integrated (see the posts on the site) - they are added on as an afterthought becau…
I'm no designer either, but I think Caddy fins were great examples of baroque flourishes -- excessive extensions to past design motifs that give a heightened sense of motion or flow or accent. Future designs can't build on such flourishes. They were stylistic endpoints, like the accents in Art Deco, but often use a coherent set of design principles within a time period and thus create a harmony of their own.
But McMansions lack common flourishes or motifs. They share only size and a brutal ostentation intended only to say, "I have money, and taste be damned."
The best exposition I know on the suburban blight AKA McMansions is "The Geography of Nowhere" by James Howard Kunstler.
Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
It'd be pretentious to just arbitrarily say "Those houses are ugly". But she says "Those houses are ugly, and this is why ". While I don't agree with her opinion on all the houses she features, but the vast majority -- yeah, they're pretty bad, and for the reasons she states. * Odd proportions and asymmetry. * Strange roof lines (the "nub" - it's like a Mansard that didn't know when to stop). * Bizarre bump-outs, bec…
But that still comes down to personal subjective taste and she thinks hers is better than the people who bought/designed the home.
Are you saying that people shouldn't be allowed to criticize anything because it's all subjective and down to personal taste?
Re: Zillow forces McMansion Hell to delete posts
#330I totally understand the whole "McMansions are bad architecture" thing... However, something about it really bothers me. There was an episode of 99% Invisible where the guest was talking about their McMansions blog and how it makes fun of these Horrid dwellings. The whole thing stank of classist elitism. The Wrong Type of people were getting the chance to design and build large houses, and of course they're applying…
There's definitely rampant classism going on here, but not in the direction you seem to think.
Her blog has an extremely mean-spirited tone, she's downright attacking people.
Her audience is accepting of that because it's directed at people who own large houses, and people who own large houses have money and are successful. In her world, it's acceptable to treat people poorly, as long as they're successful and have money.
If she were applying the same architectural critique to poorly-designed small crappy houses (which exist by the millions), she'd be getting a very, very different reaction.
Her Patreon might not be as successful, let's just put it that way.
I actually think that's a big part of the appeal of the content. Large houses are typically a source of envy, but if you can turn that large house into something to be embarrassed about, the envy dissipates and the viewership gets to feel built-up by the tearing down of the wealthy person.
My standard for how people should be treated doesn't change based on their income level, so to me this just seems mean, I think much less of her, and I don't want to read more of it.