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I feel really bad for all involved, including AirBnB. They must feel awful, and this is obviously incredibly stressful. I agree with the consensus that they hav

I feel really bad for all involved, including AirBnB. They must feel awful, and this is obviously incredibly stressful. I agree with the consensus that they have thus far failed to use this as a marketing opportunity (a la Tylenol) or even to mitigate much of the damage. That said, I would be absolutely fascinated to learn how this is playing out. It would be a huge service to the community for someone to release a blow-by-blow timeline from inside the company about all these responses and the thinking behind them. I have enough humility to know that they have a lot of really smart people thinking through this stuff, and it's likely much more complicated than we all realize. I'd love to hear about that thinking.

prodigal_erik 15y ago
I'd been hoping those AirBnB pricks would be cratered for having built their business on spamming, not for something like this.
mattdeboard 15y ago
Why on earth would you feel bad for AirBnB? They're not paying out any money, they're not taking any responsibility, and for that they are receiving a lot of negative reaction. If you feel bad because they are getting negative reaction, that is ridiculous. They are simply reaping what they've sewn in this instance. They could be out there making this right but instead they're hiding in their offices. Not even any meaningful words. A check for some reasonable amount of money accompanied by some nice words would go a long way. Something as simple as, "We were appalled by this story. I wish words could convey how deeply the AirBnB team regrets that this crime occurred to one of our customers in the course of an exchange that was arranged through our service. Please accept this check that we hope will cover most of the physical damage to your belongings along with assurances that we will be looking into exactly what we can do to mitigate the possibility of this ever happening to anyone using our service." Anyway, don't feel bad for them, that's ... misguided.
- ForrestN 15y ago
  I suppose I take a sympathetic attitude in general, but it's heightened because these guys are doing something I, and other people around here, aspire to. In a relatively minor way, I relate to them, and as I said I bet they feel awful. I don't feel as bad for them as I do for the victim, obviously, and I agree that they haven't handled this the way I might have. But having something you've worked so hard on lead to something like this because of some random asshole kids must be really, really frustrating and upsetting. You can sympathize with people without agreeing with them.

prodigal_erik 15y ago

I'd been hoping those AirBnB pricks would be cratered for having built their business on spamming, not for something like this.

mattdeboard 15y ago

Why on earth would you feel bad for AirBnB? They're not paying out any money, they're not taking any responsibility, and for that they are receiving a lot of negative reaction. If you feel bad because they are getting negative reaction, that is ridiculous. They are simply reaping what they've sewn in this instance. They could be out there making this right but instead they're hiding in their offices. Not even any meaningful words. A check for some reasonable amount of money accompanied by some nice words would go a long way. Something as simple as, "We were appalled by this story. I wish words could convey how deeply the AirBnB team regrets that this crime occurred to one of our customers in the course of an exchange that was arranged through our service. Please accept this check that we hope will cover most of the physical damage to your belongings along with assurances that we will be looking into exactly what we can do to mitigate the possibility of this ever happening to anyone using our service." Anyway, don't feel bad for them, that's ... misguided.

ForrestN 15y ago
I suppose I take a sympathetic attitude in general, but it's heightened because these guys are doing something I, and other people around here, aspire to. In a relatively minor way, I relate to them, and as I said I bet they feel awful. I don't feel as bad for them as I do for the victim, obviously, and I agree that they haven't handled this the way I might have. But having something you've worked so hard on lead to something like this because of some random asshole kids must be really, really frustrating and upsetting. You can sympathize with people without agreeing with them.