4 ms·

I take your point, but renting your home out to strangers just seems, to me, like a very strange thing to do. I'm a little grossed out even by public toilets,

by x0x0 12y ago

I take your point, but renting your home out to strangers just seems, to me, like a very strange thing to do. I'm a little grossed out even by public toilets, so to have people I don't know with who knows what hygiene habits doing god only knows what in my house is just something I'm not interested in. It's not the negative outcome; I just find simultaneously calling your home a sanctuary and renting it to strangers for cash to be passing strange. I have friends who aren't particularly attached to their house, and the wife even has a massage studio there; they rent it out on airbnb all the time. But they already have all sorts of strangers passing through anyway.

wpietri 12y ago
I agree that for some it will seem strange; for many, though, it feels normal. I love my books, but I lend books out pretty much at the drop of a hat because there's a joy in sharing. If somebody willfully destroyed one of my books and handed me back urine-soaked shreds, I would still feel violated. And if somebody then said, "Well duh, what do you expect lending out your books?" I would think that person an asshole. Because what I expect, what most people would expect, is what generally happens: the book gets returned with appreciation. One can always seize upon the rare bad outcome to sound smart in hindsight, but as far as I can see it's just kicking people when they're down.
- x0x0 12y ago
  Anyone who's rented out homes knows the deal. Family had a ski house out east that was regularly rented out. People are assholes. They steal cheap target throw rugs or cheap wall art, break into the owners' closet, leave enormous messes, etc. I'm really not trying to make this sound like, "Well, what did you expect!" -- shit sucks and these homeowners don't need people piling on them -- but seriously, anyone who's rented out homes knows the deal. The reason your book example is misleading is you aren't renting it out for cash to strangers to take to a party with them. If you have a personal connection to people they treat your stuff with more respect because it's tangled up in your relationship. When you let friends use your home, it's personal for both of you. When you let strangers use your home for money, it's personal for you but just business for them. It's an alternative to a hotel and will be treated with the same (lack of) respect, for better or for worse.
  - wpietri 12y ago
    I think that anybody renting things out can reasonably expect error and ignorance, but I think they can and should be surprised and outraged by the extraordinary levels of calculated malice displayed here. (As another data point, my parents have rented out a vacation apartment for a decade and they've never had anything stolen or trashed.) I agree money changes things some, but less and less. And the theory of much of the modern "sharing economy" stuff is that the era of disconnected, faceless capitalism is on the wane. That's certainly been my experience on both sides of AirBnB.
    - x0x0 12y ago
      Where is your parents' house? Ski towns attract people there to party, which may be part of the difference. My take on the so-called sharing economy is it's a scam run by uber et al to exploit soft employment in the united states by sidestepping the requirement of being an employer in favor of an exploitative game where you can pretend all your employees are contractors and hence not subject to minimum wages, worker's comp, or the majority of legal protections given employees.
      - wpietri 12y ago
        My parents don't rent a ski house. Neither did these people. So I think your example isn't so useful here. I also don't understand how your (not unreasonable) belief on Uber has anything to do with AirBnB.

by x0x0 12y ago

wpietri 12y ago

I agree that for some it will seem strange; for many, though, it feels normal. I love my books, but I lend books out pretty much at the drop of a hat because there's a joy in sharing. If somebody willfully destroyed one of my books and handed me back urine-soaked shreds, I would still feel violated. And if somebody then said, "Well duh, what do you expect lending out your books?" I would think that person an asshole. Because what I expect, what most people would expect, is what generally happens: the book gets returned with appreciation. One can always seize upon the rare bad outcome to sound smart in hindsight, but as far as I can see it's just kicking people when they're down.

x0x0 12y ago
Anyone who's rented out homes knows the deal. Family had a ski house out east that was regularly rented out. People are assholes. They steal cheap target throw rugs or cheap wall art, break into the owners' closet, leave enormous messes, etc. I'm really not trying to make this sound like, "Well, what did you expect!" -- shit sucks and these homeowners don't need people piling on them -- but seriously, anyone who's rented out homes knows the deal. The reason your book example is misleading is you aren't renting it out for cash to strangers to take to a party with them. If you have a personal connection to people they treat your stuff with more respect because it's tangled up in your relationship. When you let friends use your home, it's personal for both of you. When you let strangers use your home for money, it's personal for you but just business for them. It's an alternative to a hotel and will be treated with the same (lack of) respect, for better or for worse.
- wpietri 12y ago
  I think that anybody renting things out can reasonably expect error and ignorance, but I think they can and should be surprised and outraged by the extraordinary levels of calculated malice displayed here. (As another data point, my parents have rented out a vacation apartment for a decade and they've never had anything stolen or trashed.) I agree money changes things some, but less and less. And the theory of much of the modern "sharing economy" stuff is that the era of disconnected, faceless capitalism is on the wane. That's certainly been my experience on both sides of AirBnB.
  - x0x0 12y ago
    Where is your parents' house? Ski towns attract people there to party, which may be part of the difference. My take on the so-called sharing economy is it's a scam run by uber et al to exploit soft employment in the united states by sidestepping the requirement of being an employer in favor of an exploitative game where you can pretend all your employees are contractors and hence not subject to minimum wages, worker's comp, or the majority of legal protections given employees.
    - wpietri 12y ago
      My parents don't rent a ski house. Neither did these people. So I think your example isn't so useful here. I also don't understand how your (not unreasonable) belief on Uber has anything to do with AirBnB.