gerbilly (u/gerbilly)

gerbilly commented on Things you forgot (or never knew) because of React joshcollinsworth.com/blog... · Posted by u/inner_square

gerbilly · 2 years ago

If I'd come here in when React was the new hotness and criticised it, I'm pretty sure I would have been shouted down.

In the meantime this one site I worked on, which used Java for server side rendering¹ with a bit of JQuery and custom scripts is still going strong.

1: It's ridiculous to hear JS people say how awesome server side rending is when basically every other language used for the web was server side, sometimes decades before it.

gerbilly commented on Man spends entire career mastering crappy codebase taylor.town/entire-career... · Posted by u/surprisetalk

gerbilly · 2 years ago

Wasn't this a bit of a self deprecating summary of his own career?

Many of the comments seem to assume that it was written by his colleagues and that the description of his career is condescending or snarky.

Personally, I find it really funny, and that it probably describes many of us, despite the fact that we think we are way too cool to ever be like the character described in the piece.

Most of today's new tech will become tomorrow's 'legacy'. Imagine how your awsum multi lambda hairball deployment will look in 30 years. (If it's even around in three decades.)

gerbilly commented on Uber posts first quarterly net profit wsj.com/articles/uber-q2-... · Posted by u/boeingUH60

rfrey · 2 years ago

I refuse to believe that not cheating people by default, and not expecting others to cheat me by default, is synonymous with acting "more like machines than people". What a cynical, depressing world view.

gerbilly · 2 years ago

That comment wasn't about cheating it was about the communication medium. I.e. communicating via text or app vs. face to face. I.e. talking to each other like we're computers instead of face to face like people.

gerbilly commented on Uber posts first quarterly net profit wsj.com/articles/uber-q2-... · Posted by u/boeingUH60

scarface_74 · 2 years ago

> Reliance on Apps to intermediate everything is bullshit in my opinion. Plus I personally specifically don't want to share my location with some app written by people I've never met who are 100% likely to either misuse it themselves or to sell it to someone who will.

Have you tried taking a taxi in a country where you didn’t know the language?

gerbilly · 2 years ago

> Have you tried taking a taxi in a country where you didn’t know the language?

Yes, lots of times.

It helps to know the rudiments of the language, but mostly we communicated in a kind of pidgin.

Travel books used to have lists of phrases at the very back for this kind of thing. People figured it out.

gerbilly commented on Uber posts first quarterly net profit wsj.com/articles/uber-q2-... · Posted by u/boeingUH60

Fernicia · 2 years ago

I regularly get Uber/Lyfts from JFK and Newark without hassle. I don't know why I'd want to ride with a regular taxi.

Taxis still suffer from all the things that created the impetus for ride sharing platforms:

- Lack of price transparency. Will tourists landing in JFK know that $100 is an acceptable price for a trip into the city? Or that $150 is a scam?

- Lack of driver rating (or passenger rating)

- Maligned incentives. The taxi driver has incentives to extend the trip as long as possible via traffic or a long route. This is not the case in ride sharing apps.

- Accountability. Doesn't happen in NY, but seedier parts of the world taxis have abducted and robbed/raped their customers. Ride sharing provides centralised ride records and GPS data for passenger and driver.

gerbilly · 2 years ago

> the things that created the impetus for ride sharing platforms

Ride sharing platforms weren't created to make things better for the drivers or for the customers, they were created to 'take over' an industry.

At first they will subsidize your rides to more effectively squeeze the old guys out by unfair competition.

Just you wait, if they ever do squeeze them out, and see if they don't become worse than taxis ever were.

gerbilly commented on Uber posts first quarterly net profit wsj.com/articles/uber-q2-... · Posted by u/boeingUH60

Tyrek · 2 years ago

The so-called 'hidden caste system' that has tipped employees at the top of the F&B food chain, earning significantly more than back-of-house staff like bussers and chefs?

gerbilly · 2 years ago

Yeah, exactly the same caste system. I didn't say only waiters were in a lower caste. This kind of bullshit is everywhere.

Some establishments pool the tips (cash ones) and use to distribute it to the bussers (don't know about the cooking staff). Obviously this was not a universal practice.

gerbilly commented on Uber posts first quarterly net profit wsj.com/articles/uber-q2-... · Posted by u/boeingUH60

Tyrek · 2 years ago

This incredible scope creep in the customer's responsibilities (not just price, but I somehow have to adjust for a vague sense of the employer-employee relationship, for ethical/ESG considerations, etc. etc.) is just... overwhelming. I shouldn't be responsible for your employment relationship, that is between you, your employer, and the relevant regulatory authority.

gerbilly · 2 years ago

> this incredible scope creep in the customer's responsibilities

It's the difference between being a consumer and being a citizen.

gerbilly commented on Uber posts first quarterly net profit wsj.com/articles/uber-q2-... · Posted by u/boeingUH60

dfxm12 · 2 years ago

Cab drivers are the real ones getting scammed, unfortunately, and rarely have any way of recourse. When paying with card, they are rarely paid in a timely manner, if they get the proper amount at all. This is even before uber made medallions worthless. When I was growing up, it was a matter of common courtesy to use cash in situations like that, where you know the employer is going to play games with the employee when you pay with card, like a cabbie's fare or a waitress' tip. As we got older, most of us who worked in service industries & survived on tips knew this the hard way because we were also a victim of wage theft via skimming tips, etc.

I'm glad my city isn't allowing certain businesses to go completely cash free for this reason. The push to force credit card payments everywhere just hurts a class of people that are already vulnerable.

gerbilly · 2 years ago

Yes I totally agree. When businesses push for going cashless, they are often doing it to claw back the tips customers are giving their workers.

Tips that have become customary because it's become accepted that a waiter mustn't be paid a living wage. Why has it become accepted, because we have a hidden caste system.

But the customers get to feel cool to frequent a place that 'gets it' because cash is or old people.

gerbilly commented on Uber posts first quarterly net profit wsj.com/articles/uber-q2-... · Posted by u/boeingUH60

vineyardmike · 2 years ago

Yea - And those darn kids play music too loud too!

I grew up in the suburb where there were no taxis. I live in SF, and we can’t call a taxi without an app. I visit NYC once a year. Plenty of people (esp immigrants from other cultures) don’t have “street smarts” that match what some urbanite 30 years ago would have. I tried taking a taxi from JFK last time I was in NYC. The driver claimed he didn’t know where my hotel was, or even the neighborhood (“Chelsea”). They stopped in the left side of the highway to spit out the door. They pretended not to take cards, they added on fees not in the original agreement, etc. If I’m gunna be scammed either way, at least let me use google maps to put in an exact address and pay by card.

Wanting frictionless commerce is not a character flaw geez. An app is way more convenient. I can talk to people “IRL” but some things are easier with an app. Getting a taxi to pick me up is easier with an app that knows my current location - that’s a good product development not an indictment on the next generation.

gerbilly · 2 years ago

> Yea - And those darn kids play music too loud too!

I sure hope so.

> I visit NYC once a year. Plenty of people (esp immigrants from other cultures) don’t have “street smarts” that match what some urbanite 30 years ago would have.

Ironically, the immigrants probably have more street smarts.

> The driver claimed he didn’t know where my hotel was, or even the neighborhood (“Chelsea”).

And you rode with him anyway? Why would you do that?

Reliance on Apps to intermediate everything is bullshit in my opinion. Plus I personally specifically don't want to share my location with some app written by people I've never met who are 100% likely to either misuse it themselves or to sell it to someone who will.

When they want to take your freedom away, they won't come jackbooting in with rifles, they will do it by offering you convenience.