all 61 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 142 points 8 months ago

We here at EvilDork Corp believe the future is in the Torment Nexus!

  • source
  • [–] 106 points 8 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Who is this particular flavor of wanker?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 37 points 8 months ago* (6 children)

    Dynamic prices in the supermarket.

  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 52 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    years ago, a big boss of an evil hotel company I worked was doing a AMA and got asked "where do we draw the line on ethics?". His answer was "at the end of the day, if you don't feel comfortable telling your mother what you did today, then don't do it" I loved this answer and used this very often.

    Then a few months later, he directly made us work on the dirtiest geopricing / yelding features I ever saw. I guess the real question to ask during that day was "where do your mother draw the line on ethics?"

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (2 children)

    made us work

    So, you didn't draw the line there either?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Thanks for asking. I found the idea to be an unethical dark pattern, so I made my point, but in companies like these, it's not enough. So I implemented a light experiment of what was asked, and it validated my hypothesis: it was not solving a real need and was actually not even improving revenue, and that it was indeed leading to a poorer user experience. Since the request was really pushed top down, I still had to move on with so I limited it to the specific population where it would make more money. Who has the most money to spend in cheaper countries? US tourists going to Latin America. Let's make it more expensive for Americans to stay in a Colombian hotel than for a local. It pleased the small hotel owners, had a positive impact on local tourism... good enough.

    Then I moved to a different team and they threw away my work went full on and delivered the whole shit.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 61 points 8 months ago

    Protect children by giving away your identity to corporations

  • source
  • [–] 28 points 8 months ago

    I'm a huge fan of the attention annihilator, personally.

  • source
  • [–] 22 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Disrupting the market by breaking laws. Dont worry, there is a computer between me and the crime so its totally cool and totally legal.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 17 points 8 months ago

    Fake money for criminals is awesome I use it when im doing criminal activity online.

  • source
  • [–] 16 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    I spent a good couple minutes trying to figure out what the illegal crab company is. I might need glasses.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 14 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Honestly the illegal cab company has been the most useful for me. Sometimes my car breaks down.

    Mind you, the best illegal service I ever used was Dream market. Very convenient for buying acid and weed.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago

    I agree. Set prices are a game changer especially if you are visiting in another country. Drivers are less likely to rip off tourists and communication is a lot better.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 12 points 8 months ago

    Kessler syndrome generator controlled by billionaire

  • source
  • [–] 12 points 8 months ago

    I'm really enjoying

    • Confederate forums for furries
    • Encrypted piracy
  • source
  • [–] 11 points 8 months ago*

    airbnb was cool, i have fond memories of meeting interesting new people this way. then it enshittified and is now generally worse than hotels every time.

    so there is no longer a marketplace where you can get the house sharing experience, which is sad.

  • source
  • [+] 31 points 8 months ago* (5 children)
  • [–] 23 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Fake money for criminals because that also means diy hrt, recreational drugs, and piracy.

    Its not all money laundering y'know! Sometimes its the good criminals!

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [+] 12 points 8 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 9 points 8 months ago

    The "I know where you live" device.

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago

    We peaked in 2012. Mayans (?) had it right.

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago

    But the stock market is so bigly.

  • source
  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago

    I think the last two are related. With whatever weird carousel fraud is going on between the AI companies and techbro city.

  • source
  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Fake money for criminals at least has a happy ending (getting to laugh at those who went all in.)

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [+] -6 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    Fuck cab regulations, fuck hotel regulations, fuck banks, and FUCK 'AI'

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [+] -18 points 8 months ago (9 children)

    I love how you all still screech over Airbnb even after all the data has shown they aren't raising your mortgage and that bull crap.

    I love Airbnb and Uber Lyft. The taxi industry DESERVED a good fucking. 90% of them scumbags who couldn't show up on time and were actively trying to rip you off. Scumbag class and I'm happy Uber forced some accountability in the ride services sector. It's a billion times better and service has improved GREATLY in the states.

  • source
  • hideshow 9 child comments
  • [–] 25 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    Uber is horribly exploitative of their drivers.

    And AirBNB is hated because it increases the landlord class.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [+] -13 points 8 months ago* (2 children)

    Fuck the drivers. They were assholes and deserved it. Prices are stable now that everyone caught up and those assholes can't pretend like they didn't have a working reader. Seriously fuck them, the entire industry deserved it 

    Zero evidence on the latter.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Why shouldn't they be assholes when they have to deal with piece of shit riders like you?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    I'm kind, tip well, and certainly don't show up late/ no show my family and friends, lie about my ability to take cards, and run up meters 🤷‍♂️.

    It's not some conspiracy every millennial and old who had to deal with cabs in the 00s and earlier has a story and vicious hatred of them 🤣. The industry was verifiable filled with shit heads ripping people off with little to no accountability.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 12 points 8 months ago* (1 child)

    I'd like to see all this data about Airbnb you're talking about. My knowledge of Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Rome tells a different story.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261517719301992

    https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3516983

    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349968414_What_Happens_When_Airbnb_Comes_to_the_Neighborhood_The_Impact_of_Home-sharing_on_Neighborhood_Investment

    https://www.academia.edu/101079511/The_Sharing_Economy_as_a_Local_Economic_Engine_The_Heterogeneous_Impact_of_Airbnb_on_Restaurant_Employment_Growth

    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00168-024-01328-4

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119021000383

    While none of these are definitive I think they paint a pretty decent picture that they are pros and cons. The rising price of mortgages are conflated with renovations and economic growth. This growth tends to be in local growth, not corporations. With home values being tied to value there are some expected cons to this as well. 

    It's a complex model and instead of making them the Boogeyman we should understand the positive and negatives.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 10 points 8 months ago

    I don’t disagree that the taxi industry needed a good shaking, and Uber/Lyft have brought a lot of convenience and features to the party compared to a traditional taxi service, but that doesn’t automatically make Uber the good guys in the equation.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] -5 points 8 months ago* (4 children)

    The plagiarism machine is eroding any moat a company like Disney has for gatekeeping media, the way its going a tiny group of people can replace a studio. This will usher in an era of free media and allow a real culture to develop that a for-profit corporation could never create.

    The cab company alternative was a taxi, which was a government granted monopoly known for having extortionate prices.

    Using a public ledger that can be tied directly to a person is an awfully silly way to hide a crime, exchanging cash or some other untraceable medium of exchange is far safer.

    Hotels I can agree with, but only because zoning laws prevent density from forming automatically when theres more demand for scarce real estate. Its really only a problem due to municipal zoning laws which are the main cause of rising home values.

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Disney has for gatekeeping media,

    Disney hired real artists. Their artists did such amazing work that everyone copied Disney which caused the gatekeeping. Nothing stopped artist from not copying Disney to create their own works like Pixar before they were bought by Disney. AI art comes from training on existing art. So its not expanding culture to cut and paste existing art. It's a great time saver for home users to create art that is out of their ability. But its not a substitute for real artists.

    The cab company alternative was a taxi, which was a government granted monopoly known for having extortionate prices.

    Which existed because to prevent congestion, accountability against criminal acts, and maintained an employee/employer relationship. Despite its drawbacks, employees have more rights than gig economy workers.

    I guess what's next is an app Airplane company that ignores all regulations and lands on parking lots because it will be cheaper than following the laws. So what if a few people die if tens of thousands save money and have more convenience.

    Using a public ledger that can be tied directly to a person

    Its far more easy to trace money in a bank account or made through a credit card than crypto. In most cases crypto is completely untraceable until turned into real money that's deposited into a bank.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

    Disney does own most of the distribution now, which will eventually move to something free like Youtube. But instead of the artists being beholden to Disney and making a pittance on Disneys revenue they can do it themselves, still making their own art, and use AI, whatever they want to tell a compelling story.

    USD is widely used and distributed, and there is zero way for them to track the majority of bills which flow all over the world.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Gen AI will erode all originality and make any kind of career in the arts impossible.

    The cheaper taxis are only possible on the backs of people who don't understand car depreciation or the fact they don't have any kind of pension or social security benefits. The gig economy is a scam.

    There's tons of crypto coins that don't have a ledger. None of them have regulations.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago*

    Agree to disagree, I think it opens up the doors to average people making large projects that would have never been possible before. Children will love making videos just as I loved online flash animations and using 3d Movie Maker growing up, the doomerism is astounding when companies like Disney have grown so fat and garish.

    Again taxi companies are already gouging us and this is the reality you are trying to save us from, Taxi companies also provide a crap service. I find Uber a far better service.

    What ledger'less crypto has enough trade volume to absorb the proceeds of crime? I assumed it meant something with some actual trade volume like Bitcoin.

  • source
  • parent