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Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

chriszf.posterous.com

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Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#41

Post by dfxm12 »

chriszf wrote: post #8
n00b101 wrote: post #2

You seem to think it had something to do with her name? Was it a Middle Eastern name?

It had everything to do with her name: she was turned away by the person with the guest list, but not by the security guy checking for fake IDs. That was the only piece of information they had. And no, she's got a down-home 'good old American' type name, if I've ever heard one.

It didn't have to do with the name in and of itself, but the fact that it wasn't on the guest list.

Did you ever get to the bottom of why it wasn't on the guest list?

Did you ask the security guard (or did the guard offer) to get someone with authority to rectify the situation?

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#42

Post by squarecat »

This sounds like a lazy (likely contracted) security "officer". Call the company he works for and relay this story. There simply cannot be a policy that does not account for people sharing the same name.

If so, then THAT'S the story here...

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#43

Post by dfxm12 »

FuzzyDunlop wrote: post #7

> But here I was, helpless. The only thing I could do was direct her to BART and join the rest of the class inside ... or pull the class out and refuse to attend it out of principle?

and how old are these students? Pointing someone in the direction of public transportation and telling them to go sounds irresponsible. I get the author was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Certainly there was a better resolution...

Of course, there is no context in the story, so it is hard to say...

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#44

Post by michh »

Locke1689 wrote: post #37

As far as I can see, the problem is with the Yelp organizers, not the security. I have attended quite a few tech talks by banking and finance firms in Chicago. Quite often they're also in some of the most high-profile buildings in the United States. On the listing of their events they always say in massive font at the bottom: IF YOU'RE NOT REGISTERED YOU WON'T GET IN. There's nothing wrong with this policy. The probl…

I did not read in the article that she was not registered?

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#45

Post by feydr »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #30
feydr wrote: post #18

this is extremely common in a lot of meetups in SF - really the only reason they want your name on the list is so if you are a crazy homeless person looking for free booze and free food with a lot of expensive ass computer shit laying around you can't just waltz in also, I am in that meetup group and yesterday was insane email traffic w/the amount of people that couldn't follow the most simplest of advice -- "we need…

Name on a list, sure, fine. Pretty standard practice in big office buildings. Running the guest list against some database of banned names, not so standard. One reason it's not standard is that properly operating a list of banned names is very difficult, for the reason pointed out here in this post.

I didn't get this context from the post when I read it first - I guess this begs the question - was this a former employee of yelp or was it a true mixup?

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#46

Post by Bill_Dimm »

chriszf wrote: post #17
mnicole wrote: post #12

I'm confused - they had a guestlist and everyone else in the class but her was on it, or none of your students were on it and they decided to exclude her personally?

They had a guest list and all my students were on it. This particular student was also on it, along with a note to exclude her specifically from entering the office.

Is there some reason why they couldn't tell you in advance that there would be a problem with this student, rather than waiting until you got there?

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#47

Post by dfxm12 »

dustingetz wrote: post #15

Standard practice in Manhattan and Philadelphia at most office high-end office buildings. this is the world Americans live in. Yelp isn't in the business of protecting civil liberties. edit: standard practice to deny entry to non-badged persons who aren't on a pre-submited event guestlist. i've seen this, for example, at every tech meetup held in a downtown office building i've ever been to in Manhattan and Philadelp…

I've never been denied entry to buildings in NY & Philly. In this situation, the front desk has always called the people I was visiting to confirm that I was a guest.

I've never been turned away without recourse...

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#48

Post by kstrauser »

Locke1689 wrote: post #37

As far as I can see, the problem is with the Yelp organizers, not the security. I have attended quite a few tech talks by banking and finance firms in Chicago. Quite often they're also in some of the most high-profile buildings in the United States. On the listing of their events they always say in massive font at the bottom: IF YOU'RE NOT REGISTERED YOU WON'T GET IN. There's nothing wrong with this policy. The probl…

Re-read the story. The student was registered, but denied entry at the last moment for undisclosed reasons.

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#49

Post by agwa »

Interesting information about Yelp's building security from a Scala meetup group:

http://www.meetup.com/Scala-for-Startups/events/71726662/

They actually require government ID, which is a step above most building security I've encountered. Also, it says that Yelp "shares offices... in a building with security" - perhaps these stupid policies are more the building's fault than Yelp's?

Re: Apparently Yelp has a no-fly list

#50

Post by wecohen »

dfxm12 wrote: post #43
FuzzyDunlop wrote: post #7

> But here I was, helpless. The only thing I could do was direct her to BART and join the rest of the class inside ... or pull the class out and refuse to attend it out of principle?

and how old are these students? Pointing someone in the direction of public transportation and telling them to go sounds irresponsible. I get the author was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Certainly there was a better resolution... Of course, there is no context in the story, so it is hard to say...

As a student in this class I would like to clarify by saying we're all adults, the class is an accelerated software development program. The student who was kept out of yelp is in her 20s, so I think she managed public transportation just fine.
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