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Why people keep trying to erase the Hollywood sign from Google Maps (2014)

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Re: Why people keep trying to erase the Hollywood sign from Google Maps (2014)

#41
post #3

I may be missing something, but why don't they build a car park and widen the road? Surely it's a lot easier than trying to stop people going to one of the most recognisable landmarks in the world. It's definitely worrying that major tech companies are willing to alter their maps at the request of a few wealthy individuals.

Exactly, they could turn this into a beautiful destination with parking etc. Charge a small fee to pay for maintenance, close after 6pm. Everybody is happy.

Except people who want to visit at night. You know that'll happen.

Re: Why people keep trying to erase the Hollywood sign from Google Maps (2014)

#42
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The downvoting here has been ridiculous for a while now... I think posts with lots of upvotes and downvotes should be marked as interesting rather than bad. Or are we aiming for blandness here?

Yeah right, people will downvote without comment for having a different opinion. I've been told this was intended behaviour, but not exactly why. Happens to everyone, I suppose. I've recently been voted into the lighter shades for calling out questionable ideology in an article. Even though it was not even a popular news item, I got at least eight or nine downvotes, and still ended up at +2 after waiting a day. That'…

The fact that they have taken 3 odd years to add a few style rules for mobile I have no idea how long completely changing the way hacker news works will take :^)

Customisable, domainable "reddit as a service" should really exist with custom templates etc. ala shopify.

Re: Why people keep trying to erase the Hollywood sign from Google Maps (2014)

#43

On the one hand I can kinda feel the pain of the homeowners. When my neighbor recently had a yard sale, I basically had to sit in my driveway telling people to not block it in case I had to get out. Some would actually try and argue with me. So, I know how selfish and stupid people can be sometimes. But, selfish and stupid works both ways. The homeowners near there can't deny people right of way on public streets. Th…

You couldn't just ask them to move if/when you did actually have to get out?

People don't spend usually more than a few minutes at yard sales and it sounds to me like you were just being unreasonable.

If you were so worried you might need to leave at an absolute moments notice (doctor on call or something?) why not just park in the street yourself?

Re: Why people keep trying to erase the Hollywood sign from Google Maps (2014)

#44
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The downvoting here has been ridiculous for a while now... I think posts with lots of upvotes and downvotes should be marked as interesting rather than bad. Or are we aiming for blandness here?

Yeah right, people will downvote without comment for having a different opinion. I've been told this was intended behaviour, but not exactly why. Happens to everyone, I suppose. I've recently been voted into the lighter shades for calling out questionable ideology in an article. Even though it was not even a popular news item, I got at least eight or nine downvotes, and still ended up at +2 after waiting a day. That'…

There's no such thing as a perfect comment moderation system, and I've seen worse than this one. That said, I've seen far, far better as well. Ultimately this forum exists to serve the interests of the Y Combinator founders, and as long as they don't see anything wrong with perfectly coherent, intelligent, and on point comments being downmodded into oblivion in every single topic, well...what can you do?

Thankfully there are a handful of us here who will upvote to counter the "for the lulz" type downvotes even if we don't always agree with the point of view of the comment itself, but I've noticed this forum (like all Internet forums eventually do) is slowly succumbing to the lowest common denominator crowd.

Re: Why people keep trying to erase the Hollywood sign from Google Maps (2014)

#45
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah right, people will downvote without comment for having a different opinion. I've been told this was intended behaviour, but not exactly why. Happens to everyone, I suppose. I've recently been voted into the lighter shades for calling out questionable ideology in an article. Even though it was not even a popular news item, I got at least eight or nine downvotes, and still ended up at +2 after waiting a day. That'…

There's no such thing as a perfect comment moderation system, and I've seen worse than this one. That said, I've seen far, far better as well. Ultimately this forum exists to serve the interests of the Y Combinator founders, and as long as they don't see anything wrong with perfectly coherent, intelligent, and on point comments being downmodded into oblivion in every single topic, well...what can you do? Thankfully t…

You got downvoted for this originally! Ironic downvoters, I applaud you :-)

Re: Why people keep trying to erase the Hollywood sign from Google Maps (2014)

#46
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"NIMBY (an acronym for the phrase "Not In My Back Yard"), or Nimby, is a pejorative characterization of opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development because it is close to them, often with the connotation that such residents believe that the developments are needed in society but should be further away."

Pejorative it may be, but it's accurate in this case. It was also used by the article's author. I'm normally one to champion a homeowner's rights to reduce trespassing, loitering, and destruction of property, and I do understand where the homeowners in this case are coming from. I have a little turd of a neighbor who revels in illegally driving his four wheeler across my yard but the police say I'm in a catch-22; unl…

Small nitpick - why can't you erect tire-gouging spikes in your yard? It's your yard, is it not?

Re: Why people keep trying to erase the Hollywood sign from Google Maps (2014)

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found an interesting here in Scotland not far from Edinburgh - there are some really nice beaches and a large estate with golf courses and high end housing immediately inland from the beaches. Between the beaches and the houses there is a very large green metal fence which stops all access from the properties to the beaches. My initial reaction was how unreasonable it was for the developers to build such a fence to…

But what would be the reasoning for not having gates in this fence?

The coast there is part of a protected "Site of Special Scientific Interest" (SSSI) and the beaches in question are sufficiently far from normal access points that they are remarkably quiet. A condition of the developer being allowed to build houses was apparently that this didn't improve access to the coastline - hence the fence. You can see it here:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/102036

Edit: Keeping up my secret work for Visit Scotland - I can recommend the walk to the beaches from Dirleton:

http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/lothian/dirleton-fidra.shtml

Re: Why people keep trying to erase the Hollywood sign from Google Maps (2014)

#48
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The downvoting here has been ridiculous for a while now... I think posts with lots of upvotes and downvotes should be marked as interesting rather than bad. Or are we aiming for blandness here?

Yeah right, people will downvote without comment for having a different opinion. I've been told this was intended behaviour, but not exactly why. Happens to everyone, I suppose. I've recently been voted into the lighter shades for calling out questionable ideology in an article. Even though it was not even a popular news item, I got at least eight or nine downvotes, and still ended up at +2 after waiting a day. That'…

>upvotes+downvotes

Seems this has two problems. One is promoting highly-voted on comments only encourages more voting, ensuring those comments stay at the top. Two is that extremely downvoted comments would be raised to the top, regardless of upvotes. It may prove to surface spam, trolling, or other nasties.

Re: Why people keep trying to erase the Hollywood sign from Google Maps (2014)

#49

On the one hand I can kinda feel the pain of the homeowners. When my neighbor recently had a yard sale, I basically had to sit in my driveway telling people to not block it in case I had to get out. Some would actually try and argue with me. So, I know how selfish and stupid people can be sometimes. But, selfish and stupid works both ways. The homeowners near there can't deny people right of way on public streets. Th…

There is a far better solution:

Instead of saying "no, you can’t", say "go there instead". Provide an alternative.

In this case, an alternative would be creating a parking space and the start of the trail.

Re: Why people keep trying to erase the Hollywood sign from Google Maps (2014)

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, they could turn this into a beautiful destination with parking etc. Charge a small fee to pay for maintenance, close after 6pm. Everybody is happy.

Except people who want to visit at night. You know that'll happen.

Then allow them to go at night and put some street lights up the trail. Also not impossible.
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