Green Room - Week 22 - Day 6

[clauderainsrm]

Do I want to stir people up this morning?

Hmmm... sure...

Uber was guilty of trusting that people weren't asshats. Unfortunately, people are.

They probably should have considered that someone was going to exploit their auto response. But it takes a real shithead to do that - and it takes someone who is going out of their way to find a problem with the company to think that they did it deliberately. I don't mean the ones who saw it initially and reacted with their gut impulse. I'm thinking more of the ones who came in hours later, after the apology was already up and Uber was giving people discounted rides, who just wanted to go off on the racist company.

I was going to link an article, but honestly, most of the ones I could find seem to just be exploiting the situation for hits and/or giving attention to troll's account.

So, since most of you probably don't know what the hell I'm talking about - because that's 99% of these posts, I'll pull back a bit and explain...

Uber, like a lot of businesses, has an auto response. I'm going to use Murielle as an example name.

If she had something to say to Uber, like "I had problems using your app", they would write back "Sorry to hear that Murielle" with the support contact information.

It makes sense from a business standpoint of why you would want to address customers by name. It also makes sense that someone would try to troll that feature.

In this case, again, let's say it's Murielle - because that makes it far more shocking, she changes her name to (the N-word). Because that's what the troll did.

Now you know what auto response would end up tweeting.

After getting the response, Murielle then changed her name back, so anyone looking it at thinks the Uber auto response team is just really really racist monsters.

I'm NOT saying that the company shouldn't have seen this coming and put filters in place. They probably should have. But I can also see why it would never really occur to someone to do.

Uber has a lot of problems. Which is why there are protests scheduled. But I think it's a mistake to go after the company being exploited harder than people seem to be going after the troll who used the word as a bait and switch to get the company to say it.

Of course, I'm sure there are people who will say I'm wrong - OK, I'm fine with learning more on what I'm missing in the subtext, so feel free to let me know!

I'm coming from a position as someone who has had a few people using "offensive" user names. (Nowhere near that word just things that were designed to get a reaction) I had to post them in the poll, because that was their name. I do wonder though where that line would be - I'm not an auto response after all. Hopefully no one ever decides to push that. But I'm sure, being the internet, at some point, some troll will.

***

You don't have to be a troll like Murielle to be interested in finale poll! https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1064830.html

It closes tomorrow night. So make sure to get your votes in!

Comments

[clauderainsrm]

BTW - If anyone is in need of any arthritis, I have some to spare.

Apparently, that's what has been causing the shooting pains in my side. Which is better than something more serious, but bad because it means it's not really going to go away.

So - both feet and now my sides! Yay!

It's still better than the alternative of NOT being alive. So I'll deal with it. :)

[halfshellvenus]

Oh no. :O

You're awfully young to have arthritus, especially with this much pain.

I hadn't heard about the Uber situation, but that is such troll-like behavior overall. Ugh.

[murielle]

Ahh, ahh, ahh....!!!

I'm so sorry about your arthritis. I have it too, in various places. The good news (if it can be called that) is that once you know the pain, you recognize it for what it is next time it crops up somewhere else. With me, it was my right knee first. It felt like there were shards of glass under my knee cap. I was thinking amputation, please! Now, I'm just kinda...meh.

Gives you virtual cookies with magic anti-inflammatory properties.

[clauderainsrm]

Thanks!

Yeah, the good news is now we know how to deal with it.

[sonreir]

Fortunately, I think the TOS for lj and Dreamwidth prevent you from using racial slurs as a name, so you might dodge that bullet yet...

[clauderainsrm]

It's weird that Twitter doesn't.

But again, other than the "I hope I never have that problem with putting names in the polls" I haven't really looked into the issue too deeply.

[sonreir]

I think, umm, Twitter is a little different because you have the handle and then the display name. The handle is your @, so like gary. The display is (I'm guessing) what people actually see in their Twitter feed (so yours could be something like, "Leader of 'Murica").

I'd guess that the handle probably has a filter that prevents you from using racist slurs, while the display (which can be changed at any point) does not...because they didn't think of it.

ETA: I just looked it up and that appears to be exactly what happened.

Twitter has historically had really poor moderation. Not surprised that this happened.

[rayaso]

I imagine there are an awful lot of businesses with Uber's vulnerability that are making some changes to their systems, fast. The internet does not make assholes, but it sure gives them a public voice.

[bsgsix]

So sorry about the arthritis. It's so painful and I hope your docs have some good recommendations for you. I'm not in need of some more (I have rheumatoid arthritis, and have since I was 29), but since I'm used to it and have all the proper meds, I'll take yours for you! Just ship it overnight. It's a small price to pay for the removal of pain, right? ;)

I have all kinds of issues with Uber and Lyft, but this is... I'll just say the media is notoriously terrible with handling stuff like this, no matter who was in the right and who was in the wrong, and note that offensive handles are really poor ways to hide on the Internet behind the "shock and awe" factor. Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. Sad how far some people (and that does include companies, too, depending on the circumstance) will go to get it.

[murielle]

I'm getting a little worried that no one has reacted at all to Gary using my name here, so just for the record: I did not do this! (Headdesk!) And, I'm not a troll. That is not a politically correct term, by the way. We prefer the term Extremely Large Unenlightened Non-Human People. Thank you. ;-))

[hwango]

I assumed he was referring to some other, evil Murielle. But it did seem like an odd name to have chosen at random.

[bleodswean]

LOL. It set me back on my heels a bit! I was horrified to learn there is an evil Murielle!

[murielle]

I has many layerz!

[hwango]

Wait, trolls (sorry, I mean Extremely Large Unenlightened Non-Human People) have layers too? I thought that was an ogre thing. Or are ogres also Extremely Large Unenlightened Non-Human People. I can't keep up with popular culture.

[murielle]

Mostly layerz of dirt, but yeah, we're big and mean and have big clubs. I actually belong to several. ;-))

[hwango]

There's probably also a Chaotic-Neutral Murielle.

[murielle]

Yeah, but she's never around when the stuff hits the fan. ;-)

[murielle]

LOL!

[sonreir]

I think he picked you simply because it's completely unbelievable! :)

[murielle]

Aw, thank you! ;-)