3 ms·

It sucks that this happened; some people can really be scumbags. However, I'm really not sure that there is a solution to this. People in general are racist/bi

It sucks that this happened; some people can really be scumbags. However, I'm really not sure that there is a solution to this. People in general are racist/biased/sexist/thing-ist, all over the world. Trying to regulate that fact doesn't make sense (how would you even police that?), but perhaps confronting her about it could help. If you sent her your blog post, detailing the steps that you took, she could come around and tell you a more reasonable explanation, like that her schedule is unstable and she had lots of other offers.

tlrobinson 10y ago
Don't show profile pictures?
- kazinator 10y ago
  Some people could refuse to lend the place without seeing profile pictures, so you will have to make that "show phony profile pictures", which is in the category of poor idea.
  - tlrobinson 10y ago
    I think the key to eliminating most of this behavior is to not show the picture right off the bat since it allows people to be subtly racist. If they have to ask for a picture before denying a guest then it's a lot more obvious they're being racist. The more overt racists can be dealt with by doing simple analysis of denied/cancelled bookings and banning them. I'm guessing AirBnB will eventually have to implement one or both of these approaches to avoid discrimination lawsuits.
geofft 10y ago
> However, I'm really not sure that there is a solution to this. People in general are racist/biased/sexist/thing-ist, all over the world. Trying to regulate that fact doesn't make sense (how would you even police that?) We made a lot of progress on this a few decades ago with fair housing laws. It wasn't instant or perfect, but it absolutely was policeable. You can't police how people feel, but you can, empirically, police whether people get to act on their feelings to deny other people civil rights. Of course, you need a working regulatory framework for such policing to be able to have an effect.
abalone 10y ago
They could police it the same way bloggers are policing it: If Airbnb sees a suspicious rejection of a person of color, Airbnb themselves could try rebooking it under a fake white profile. If it gets accepted, ban the host. They could even automate it with a bot.
- leppr 10y ago
  Except the host could argue that they rejected the guest for some other trait than color ("looked untrustworthy", etc). It'd be better to rely on statistics: if a host systematically rejects some "protected class", THEN you can accuse them of unjust discrimination.
  - abalone 10y ago
    Yeah, when I say suspicious rejection I mean probably as part of a pattern. And maybe you're right, pattens alone might be enough to ban. But with a "test" like this Airbnb could take action sooner and more definitively. (Also it should be noted, "looked untrustworthy" can be code for racism.)

tlrobinson 10y ago

Don't show profile pictures?

kazinator 10y ago
Some people could refuse to lend the place without seeing profile pictures, so you will have to make that "show phony profile pictures", which is in the category of poor idea.
- tlrobinson 10y ago
  I think the key to eliminating most of this behavior is to not show the picture right off the bat since it allows people to be subtly racist. If they have to ask for a picture before denying a guest then it's a lot more obvious they're being racist. The more overt racists can be dealt with by doing simple analysis of denied/cancelled bookings and banning them. I'm guessing AirBnB will eventually have to implement one or both of these approaches to avoid discrimination lawsuits.

geofft 10y ago

> However, I'm really not sure that there is a solution to this. People in general are racist/biased/sexist/thing-ist, all over the world. Trying to regulate that fact doesn't make sense (how would you even police that?) We made a lot of progress on this a few decades ago with fair housing laws. It wasn't instant or perfect, but it absolutely was policeable. You can't police how people feel, but you can, empirically, police whether people get to act on their feelings to deny other people civil rights. Of course, you need a working regulatory framework for such policing to be able to have an effect.

abalone 10y ago

They could police it the same way bloggers are policing it: If Airbnb sees a suspicious rejection of a person of color, Airbnb themselves could try rebooking it under a fake white profile. If it gets accepted, ban the host. They could even automate it with a bot.

leppr 10y ago
Except the host could argue that they rejected the guest for some other trait than color ("looked untrustworthy", etc). It'd be better to rely on statistics: if a host systematically rejects some "protected class", THEN you can accuse them of unjust discrimination.
- abalone 10y ago
  Yeah, when I say suspicious rejection I mean probably as part of a pattern. And maybe you're right, pattens alone might be enough to ban. But with a "test" like this Airbnb could take action sooner and more definitively. (Also it should be noted, "looked untrustworthy" can be code for racism.)