5 ms·

Why do these articles always reach the front page? Does hackernews hate Uber that badly? Or perhaps its profitable for news articles to always rag on them? Why

by nlosti 6y ago

Why do these articles always reach the front page? Does hackernews hate Uber that badly? Or perhaps its profitable for news articles to always rag on them? Why is it profitable? Does everyone want to see them fail? They're no worse than your run of the mill tech company, so I suspect something odd is going on. I dislike corporations in general and want to see them play fair, but Uber changed the way I live life, and I'm constantly worried bureaucrats and angry business/tech nerds are going to regress us back to the taxi stone ages. We're just one law away from having to go back to hailing a cab with our thumbs and trusting their internal GPS.

fireattack 6y ago
If frontpage is the indicator (which isn't nearly close to perfect), what I gathered all these years is that HN hates most of big tech companies, of not all.
- indymike 6y ago
  I've never felt like the community hates the big tech companies... most of us are trying to grow something up to be big one day... BUT it is controversial when we see bad behavior, or potentially bad behavior. The discussions here really become useful in forming my own opinions.
  - fireattack 6y ago
    I don't have any issue with this particular article (or this kind), people should be critical to any company anyway. What shows the "hate" more clearly is when there is "good" news or just an neutral announcement from/about these companies, where you will see most of the comments being negative to a point they are often irrelevant to the article itself.
dannyr 6y ago
"They're no worse than your run of the mill tech company" So media should stop reporting on possible bad actions by Uber? Excess coverage or not, the media exposed discrimination and harassments at Uber that led to the company changing for the better.
- nlosti 6y ago
  It is disproportionately against Uber especially on HN. I haven't seen an article here about child labour in hardware companies in forever, but I definitely don't see them daily like Uber seems to have.
  - kmonsen 6y ago
    It is because the numbers involved (and a little bit the blatant corrupt attitude by the former CEO). Uber by design was created to break laws and hustle (and had a lot of issues with sexual issues for example as well). Seems like the current CEO is good, but the company gets the good and the bad from it's history. The good part is that they got a ton of money, like inconceivable amounts of money.
freeone3000 6y ago
They're a nightmarish zombie product of venture capital. They have never made a profit, and have lost more money in the past three months than most businesses will ever achieve ($5! BILLION!) with nothing to show for it, but they continue to exist as a testament to silicon valley hubris. They operate by ignoring laws, and pulling out once enforcement becomes effective. They have launched tracking programs specifically to lie to regulators. Their employees frequently do not make minimum wage, and there's no plan on even tracking this - attempts to force them to do so cause operational cessations. In short, they are all of the evils of a short-sighted "tech" company in one package.
prh8 6y ago
Uber has changed your life for the better, by taking advantage of thousands of other people. Worrying about going back to the taxi Stone Age is actually worry about making things fair for those people.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- icebraining 6y ago
  Taxi drivers weren't treated fairly[1]. They were just abused by others instead of by Big Tech, so nobody cared. The appearance of Uber has actually allowed some progress in their labour rights[2]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-difficult-in-best-of-times-gets-tougher.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-d... [2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/29/labor-boards-shift-in-legal-interpretation-could-allow-thousands-of-taxi-drivers-to-unionize/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/29/labor...
- iphone_elegance 6y ago
  Uber is just a crutch
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

by nlosti 6y ago

fireattack 6y ago

If frontpage is the indicator (which isn't nearly close to perfect), what I gathered all these years is that HN hates most of big tech companies, of not all.

indymike 6y ago
I've never felt like the community hates the big tech companies... most of us are trying to grow something up to be big one day... BUT it is controversial when we see bad behavior, or potentially bad behavior. The discussions here really become useful in forming my own opinions.
- fireattack 6y ago
  I don't have any issue with this particular article (or this kind), people should be critical to any company anyway. What shows the "hate" more clearly is when there is "good" news or just an neutral announcement from/about these companies, where you will see most of the comments being negative to a point they are often irrelevant to the article itself.

dannyr 6y ago

"They're no worse than your run of the mill tech company" So media should stop reporting on possible bad actions by Uber? Excess coverage or not, the media exposed discrimination and harassments at Uber that led to the company changing for the better.

nlosti 6y ago
It is disproportionately against Uber especially on HN. I haven't seen an article here about child labour in hardware companies in forever, but I definitely don't see them daily like Uber seems to have.
- kmonsen 6y ago
  It is because the numbers involved (and a little bit the blatant corrupt attitude by the former CEO). Uber by design was created to break laws and hustle (and had a lot of issues with sexual issues for example as well). Seems like the current CEO is good, but the company gets the good and the bad from it's history. The good part is that they got a ton of money, like inconceivable amounts of money.

freeone3000 6y ago

They're a nightmarish zombie product of venture capital. They have never made a profit, and have lost more money in the past three months than most businesses will ever achieve ($5! BILLION!) with nothing to show for it, but they continue to exist as a testament to silicon valley hubris. They operate by ignoring laws, and pulling out once enforcement becomes effective. They have launched tracking programs specifically to lie to regulators. Their employees frequently do not make minimum wage, and there's no plan on even tracking this - attempts to force them to do so cause operational cessations. In short, they are all of the evils of a short-sighted "tech" company in one package.

prh8 6y ago

Uber has changed your life for the better, by taking advantage of thousands of other people. Worrying about going back to the taxi Stone Age is actually worry about making things fair for those people.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
icebraining 6y ago
Taxi drivers weren't treated fairly[1]. They were just abused by others instead of by Big Tech, so nobody cared. The appearance of Uber has actually allowed some progress in their labour rights[2]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-difficult-in-best-of-times-gets-tougher.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-d... [2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/29/labor-boards-shift-in-legal-interpretation-could-allow-thousands-of-taxi-drivers-to-unionize/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/29/labor...
iphone_elegance 6y ago
Uber is just a crutch

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]