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Post by becks on Jun 11, 2016 1:22:01 GMT
Thanks Marie. I didn't read the article carefully enough. I've slapped my wrists soundly because it's that kind of sloppy reading (and writing) that can cause all kinds of mischief. The UK, as you may know, is having a grand old time imagining we can transport ourselves back to the good old days of...I dunno, Downton Abbey where everyone knew their place and foreigners were exotic and you could pat them on the head and give them your boots to clean. Ah, I just outed myself as the most despicable liberal ever.
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 11, 2016 1:38:17 GMT
Interesting becks I didn't know that was going on in the UK now....
I just was googling "crazy neighbor" and randomly seeing what interesting things I might come up with...and found this, which is fun -- it's an article on "How to Deal With Crazy Neighbors"! How appropriate. This has a Mexican cultural bent since the region is Puerto Vallarta, but imagine the fun of using some of these techniques, regardless, in your locale!
www.vallartatribune.com/dealing-with-your-crazy-expat-neighbor/
Here are my two favs from the list:Sorry for the noise. Just a little Satanic exorcism today.
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Post by Mabel on Jun 11, 2016 1:53:10 GMT
Deborah, my neighbors all love me (well of course..) but still i take no chances. They are all very sane except for one or two who are still left, who are unfortunately the ones with the chihuahuas and exorcisms.
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 11, 2016 2:08:13 GMT
Yes, I understand! I was thinking (joking) actually of the guest being the one to get the Chihuahua or do the Exorcism. No AIrbnb host should take any chances in offending neighbors!! Very very important -- Airbnb host -- be on good terms with the neighbors! (But... smile to yourself when you are apologizing for your guest who did the Satanic Exorcism...for the benefit of crotchety neighbor....)
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Post by Olivier François on Jun 11, 2016 8:45:14 GMT
Deborah [ Welcome to the USA, the land of "if a person is mean to you today, file a lawsuit." ] that's exactly what's happen, all these stories create prevention against US guests in Europe:
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 11, 2016 14:56:41 GMT
I can't blame the tenant for suspecting that disclosure was a secondhand threat rather than an honest warning.
REgarding seeing the comment as a threat....the difficulty with such a claim, of that prospective tenant, is that the property owner (just like we as Airbnb hosts) had every right to refuse to rent to her, without stating a reason why. He could have said no, he could have said "I'll get back to you about it" and then chosen not to get back to her, he could have politely concluded the conversation and then avoided all future communication with her -- he was under no obligation to provide any information whatsoever to her, or any reason for not pursuing her interest in the place. Hence, one would have to wonder why, if someone can refuse to rent to you for any reason, they are voluntarily supplying info that you would use against them in court...and put that into context with the fact that in general in the conversation they are being very friendly with you. Well maybe because they are stupid or witless...but....really?
The bipolar resident making the anti-gay slurs was actually not a neighbor but a resident in his house -- the house where the prospective renter would be staying -- so I think he felt that he wanted to be honest with the woman about what she was getting into, as he (and rightly) imagined she would have difficulty with this resident. Even so, I agree it was unwise of him to go into specifics about that. Really, as you've suggested would be the case with the neighbor, such a woman would have created problems for ANY roommate he brought in, and his first task should have been to evict this bipolar woman over creating a nuisance and essentially harassing others in his home.
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Post by helgaparis on Jun 11, 2016 17:34:16 GMT
The problem with these situations is, that there is no solution. As the victim in the article said, such â situation could escalate even worse than "only" the police being called. They could be in real danger.
Whatever you do as a host, you would be wrong. You could not offer the included beach access but if it's a major feature of the place, you can't get the price you may need to upkeep it. You can say you don't want to rent to blacks, get kicked off the platform and sued from someone. Besides, it even may not be true. You can tell every not white, not heterosexual potential guest, that it would be dangerous for racist neighbors and get sued for that too. The guest might see it, as Andrew does, as unnecessary additional insult. You can deny guests without a reason, the algorithm can see a pattern and you drop in search rank or are excluded. (Machine learning is so fancy a name. They have already algorithms to define which booking we deny. Easy to set race as a criterion too. ) Besides, the victims used to discrimination do not need a computer program to know why they are denied. A little test like the bluefaced guy did and you get a lawsuit here too.
There is no good way to handle it if you have such neighbors.
In Paris, I'm used to have neighbors in all colors, see the gay couple holding hands. I remember a summer evening, we were a group of neighbors sharing a drink, chatting in the courtyard, watering the garden, when the gay neigbors passed and one of the guys wore a pretty dress and both were in festive mode and makeup. Everyone laughed, complimented them, he did a pirouette in the garden to show of his dress, make it float, they told us about the party and we wished them fun, which they had. I remember the feeling of freedom to be happy as you are, that floated in the air and that I associate with France, especially Paris. But that's defined by society. It's not possible that people change their neighbors to such an extent, from shouting insults to making compliments, or at least being polite, as a precondition to rent. That would need a political intent to change society in this direction, not to "build a wall to keep Mexicans out" and not to "return to Downtown Abbey, when life was simple". And then keep that direction for a generation or two. I think airbnb should define rules quickly, how to handle it, and also define their reactions for catastrophic events. At the moment, they play it by ear and seem unprofessional.
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 11, 2016 17:51:25 GMT
I think you are quite wise in your view on this, Helga. That there "is no solution"....save perhaps a change of heart, or of many hearts.
"Machine learning" -- the robot spy will be misled. I take my photograph in shadow, or using black and white art filter, and then perhaps the robot views me as another ethnicity. I like the pink and day-glo green art filters some use -- perhaps the robot spy will view me in a pink or green light as a guest with a disability -- odd skin pigmentation -- thus garnering certain zeal on behalf of the machine, to protect me as likely subject to discrimination based on my odd hue. A black Airbnb guest, tired of getting declined in what she suspects are decisions based on race, changes her profile photo to that of a skyscraper in Manhattan. Now the robot cannot defend her any more, because she has no face for the machine to analyze. An African-American host in Chicago is setting up a new hosting business. In spite of the fact that he lives in a somewhat "gritty" or "up and coming" urban area, he feels that there will be some market for his listing, and a couple of his neighbor friend hosts report success. Indeed there is a market for him, and he gets several reservation requests from his immediate neighbors, who are laughing at him going on Airbnb, and want to exploit their friend's participation in the sharing economy and have parties at his no-party home. He declines them, one after another, and finds himself booted off the platform for declining 9 guests the robot viewed as black, while accepting 2 the robot considered white.
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