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So much is happening so fast in the name of bad publicity directed at Uber. Is anyone else cynically suspecting a coordinated hit? I don't doubt there's a toxi

So much is happening so fast in the name of bad publicity directed at Uber. Is anyone else cynically suspecting a coordinated hit? I don't doubt there's a toxic culture with real problems present. But the timing and sustained pressure of all this media attention seems a little... suspicious. I also think back to the anonymously written Medium piece after the first one [1]. There is literally no way to verify this, and it was upvoted a ridiculous amount (top 10 story on HN of all time or something like that). To a cynic, this could easily be astroturfing. To reiterate - I'm not by any means doubting that there are serious organizational and cultural problems at Uber that need to be addressed. But I can't help but feeling like something else is going on as well. Who could stand to benefit from such a public image barrage, by attacking the ability to hire and retain talent? [1] - https://medium.com/@amyvertino/my-name-is-not-amy-i-am-an-uber-survivor-c6d6541e632f#.bsjfl2vkp https://medium.com/@amyvertino/my-name-is-not-amy-i-am-an-ub...

jedberg 10y ago
I don't think it's a coordinate hit. I think one woman published her story, and then everyone else started digging deeper, and given their previous ethical issues, the stories, even the anonymous ones, are fairly easy to believe. But to answer your question, Lyft, as well as cab companies all over the planet, would benefit immensely from people not using Uber.
- FLGMwt 10y ago
  Not to mention the engineers available to SV companies after a mass exodus.
- packetized 10y ago
  Cynically, so would automakers in the economy/hybrid economy segment of the market, I believe.
CardenB 10y ago
I would think that they got some bad press (via the Fowler article), then other organizations had some bad press ready to go at the right time.
gingerbread-man 10y ago
Another possibility: the cathartic outrage bandwagon. We can't really punish Trump for his awfulness right now. We can punish Travis Kalanick and Uber. (I don't know what their sales look like right now, but I doubt it's a pretty picture.) There's obviously something very satisfying about burning someone at the stake, even if he's probably guilty.
yifanlu 10y ago
Occam's razor. Is it a giant conspiracy coordinated by some Other Entity with Power and Influence able to manipulate NYT as well as Google to maximize the impact of their destructive forces? Or... because of all the bad publicity and Uber being in the limelight, those who were already feel uncomfortable about what they saw finally got the initiative to speak out... and the news media finds the story hot enough to publish because of the #DeleteUber campaign... and throw in some consequential timing at Google.
- jimmywanger 10y ago
  > those who were already feel uncomfortable about what they saw finally got the initiative to speak out... Or those who saw a cash rich company desperately trying to stop an avalanche of bad publicity felt as though they had a chance to either make some money or get some publicity on the situation by piling on? I doubt very much that any journalist right now would turn down a story bashing Uber, because they're an easy target and those hit pieces will get eyeballs.
siegecraft 10y ago
it smells very much like a coordinated hit but it's hard to have sympathy.
Moru 10y ago
This is a big problem for a lot of women even in todays IT companies. The high difference between male and female salary and number of employees is not because males are smarter. It has a lot more to do with how the females get treated already in school, and this continues all the way until most have stopped dreaming and told all their friends to stay away.
- tomp 10y ago
  "Females" seem to get treated pretty well in school, given that they finish it much more often than men.
decker 10y ago
Doesn't really seem that suspicious. News orgs know what sort of stories that people will read, and they have likely realized that Uber is a giant seam of news stories just waiting to be mined.
mrschwabe 10y ago
If you have been following Uber on HN since it's inception you will have noticed the trend of targeted media attacks against them long ago. Being subjected to routine attack pieces and soul-less astroturfers (who can just as easily sign up to HN and comment too) is generally a sign that a company or person is doing innovative things.
a3n 10y ago
Maybe it's Uber secretly attacking themselves to make President Trump look bad, or to impress Jody Foster.

jedberg 10y ago

I don't think it's a coordinate hit. I think one woman published her story, and then everyone else started digging deeper, and given their previous ethical issues, the stories, even the anonymous ones, are fairly easy to believe. But to answer your question, Lyft, as well as cab companies all over the planet, would benefit immensely from people not using Uber.

FLGMwt 10y ago
Not to mention the engineers available to SV companies after a mass exodus.
packetized 10y ago
Cynically, so would automakers in the economy/hybrid economy segment of the market, I believe.

CardenB 10y ago

I would think that they got some bad press (via the Fowler article), then other organizations had some bad press ready to go at the right time.

gingerbread-man 10y ago

Another possibility: the cathartic outrage bandwagon. We can't really punish Trump for his awfulness right now. We can punish Travis Kalanick and Uber. (I don't know what their sales look like right now, but I doubt it's a pretty picture.) There's obviously something very satisfying about burning someone at the stake, even if he's probably guilty.

yifanlu 10y ago

Occam's razor. Is it a giant conspiracy coordinated by some Other Entity with Power and Influence able to manipulate NYT as well as Google to maximize the impact of their destructive forces? Or... because of all the bad publicity and Uber being in the limelight, those who were already feel uncomfortable about what they saw finally got the initiative to speak out... and the news media finds the story hot enough to publish because of the #DeleteUber campaign... and throw in some consequential timing at Google.

jimmywanger 10y ago
> those who were already feel uncomfortable about what they saw finally got the initiative to speak out... Or those who saw a cash rich company desperately trying to stop an avalanche of bad publicity felt as though they had a chance to either make some money or get some publicity on the situation by piling on? I doubt very much that any journalist right now would turn down a story bashing Uber, because they're an easy target and those hit pieces will get eyeballs.

siegecraft 10y ago

it smells very much like a coordinated hit but it's hard to have sympathy.

Moru 10y ago

This is a big problem for a lot of women even in todays IT companies. The high difference between male and female salary and number of employees is not because males are smarter. It has a lot more to do with how the females get treated already in school, and this continues all the way until most have stopped dreaming and told all their friends to stay away.

tomp 10y ago
"Females" seem to get treated pretty well in school, given that they finish it much more often than men.

decker 10y ago

Doesn't really seem that suspicious. News orgs know what sort of stories that people will read, and they have likely realized that Uber is a giant seam of news stories just waiting to be mined.

mrschwabe 10y ago

If you have been following Uber on HN since it's inception you will have noticed the trend of targeted media attacks against them long ago. Being subjected to routine attack pieces and soul-less astroturfers (who can just as easily sign up to HN and comment too) is generally a sign that a company or person is doing innovative things.

a3n 10y ago

Maybe it's Uber secretly attacking themselves to make President Trump look bad, or to impress Jody Foster.