3 ms·

Framing a business decision as a security imperative sure sounds like intent to mislead to me.

LoganDark 6mo ago
Misdirection is normal business practice. For example, Quadpay/Zipco recently made a change where instead of appraising your credit independently for each of their plans, they calculate a total amount you're allowed to have in flight at any given time, and share that across everything. In their FAQ, there is an entry for "Is my purchasing power going down?" and the answer is some bullshit like "Your purchasing power is unified for a simpler and more streamlined experience bla bla" which doesn't actually answer the question. It's meant to defuse questioners without actually revealing that yes, total purchasing power did go down when they decreased the number of buckets that multiplied their appraisal. You're no longer allowed to pay a larger sum of money over a longer period of time - you get one amount that you're allowed over any term, and that amount of lower than what you could've been approved for before. Regardless of whether that's a good or bad decision (good for people with bad impulse control, for example), they are dishonest about it through lawyerspeak, which is the most standard business practice there is. You could argue that plenty of standard business practices are bad faith but I would say the capitalist idea of private corporations in the first place is bad faith.
- thedevilslawyer 6mo ago
  Misdirection is misleading, and bad faith.
- spockz 6mo ago
  How far have we fallen to call misdirection a normal business practice. I agree that it is everywhere but it isn’t or at least shouldn’t be normal.
  - Chaosvex 6mo ago
    Pertinent comment from earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47801845 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47801845
  - soraminazuki 6mo ago
    Yeah, there's a difference between normal conduct and normalized conduct. It sure is a sign of the times that people are confused by this.
- miki123211 6mo ago
  Related: I wish there was a TV show where they would ask simple yes/no questions to politicians and business leaders, but their mic would only be unmuted after they press a "yes" or "no" button. Answering a yes/no question with a "we're doing everything we can to ensure a smooth experience for our customers" is spindoctoring 101.
  - embedding-shape 6mo ago
    But that's not how people generally hold their opinions or even should (I'd argue). You can ask me "Yes or no, should we kill people?" and I can't really give you hard "yes" or "no", there is nuance and context to consider, and probably most beliefs I hold, have some sort of nuance. Unless you're also asking politicians to all become 100% dogmatic, I don't think that's a realistic suggestion.
  - loloquwowndueo 6mo ago
    They’d just press whatever and then start their verbal reply with “yes and no”
  - blipvert 6mo ago
    “Have you stopped beating your wife?”
    - actionfromafar 6mo ago
      Could you ask misleading questions? Answer yes or no.
  - deleted 6mo ago
    [deleted]
- dspillett 6mo ago
  > Misdirection is normal business practice. Being normal practice does not make something right.

Misdirection is normal business practice. For example, Quadpay/Zipco recently made a change where instead of appraising your credit independently for each of their plans, they calculate a total amount you're allowed to have in flight at any given time, and share that across everything. In their FAQ, there is an entry for "Is my purchasing power going down?" and the answer is some bullshit like "Your purchasing power is unified for a simpler and more streamlined experience bla bla" which doesn't actually answer the question. It's meant to defuse questioners without actually revealing that yes, total purchasing power did go down when they decreased the number of buckets that multiplied their appraisal. You're no longer allowed to pay a larger sum of money over a longer period of time - you get one amount that you're allowed over any term, and that amount of lower than what you could've been approved for before. Regardless of whether that's a good or bad decision (good for people with bad impulse control, for example), they are dishonest about it through lawyerspeak, which is the most standard business practice there is. You could argue that plenty of standard business practices are bad faith but I would say the capitalist idea of private corporations in the first place is bad faith.

thedevilslawyer 6mo ago
Misdirection is misleading, and bad faith.
spockz 6mo ago
How far have we fallen to call misdirection a normal business practice. I agree that it is everywhere but it isn’t or at least shouldn’t be normal.
- Chaosvex 6mo ago
  Pertinent comment from earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47801845 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47801845
- soraminazuki 6mo ago
  Yeah, there's a difference between normal conduct and normalized conduct. It sure is a sign of the times that people are confused by this.
miki123211 6mo ago
Related: I wish there was a TV show where they would ask simple yes/no questions to politicians and business leaders, but their mic would only be unmuted after they press a "yes" or "no" button. Answering a yes/no question with a "we're doing everything we can to ensure a smooth experience for our customers" is spindoctoring 101.
- embedding-shape 6mo ago
  But that's not how people generally hold their opinions or even should (I'd argue). You can ask me "Yes or no, should we kill people?" and I can't really give you hard "yes" or "no", there is nuance and context to consider, and probably most beliefs I hold, have some sort of nuance. Unless you're also asking politicians to all become 100% dogmatic, I don't think that's a realistic suggestion.
- loloquwowndueo 6mo ago
  They’d just press whatever and then start their verbal reply with “yes and no”
- blipvert 6mo ago
  “Have you stopped beating your wife?”
  - actionfromafar 6mo ago
    Could you ask misleading questions? Answer yes or no.
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
dspillett 6mo ago
> Misdirection is normal business practice. Being normal practice does not make something right.