Can we please stop posting this stuff? I get it, the woman had a tragic experience, and Airbnb is getting blamed. I still think this is getting wildly overblown--the number of rehashed posts on this topic here is like watching CNN. I don't think HN is for blow-by-blow updates to the story of the hour.
When the story of the hour is a YC grad tripping over their feet in PR and the shit hitting the mainstream fan, then yes, I find it multiply pertinent.
There comes a time in a successful startup where this kind of thing can make or break. AirBnB looks perilously close to the latter. Which sucks, but it behooves us to watch.
I agree. This is becoming too sensational- I expect Nancy Grace to show up somewhere.
My opinion: Someone let a stranger into their home and there was a negative outcome. Common sense says that's a calculated risk- much like a hotel has both good and bad guests. They have no real obligation to provide support to this user- regardless of what site you use to fill your room (craigslist, airbnb, etc) you are still providing your property to a stranger. Just because its a super-hip start-up doesn't mean everyone involved has the same intentions. It is naive to think otherwise.
Edit: For the record, I do empathize with the victim and hope she gets justice. I feel that she shouldn't be targeting Airbnb for something they were not responsible for.
Since I'm getting downvoted anyway, may I request that we change the name of the site to Airbnb News, and does anybody know what EJ had for breakfast today? That might be interesting to post.
Seriously. Look at the list of top links (EDIT: by which I mean /best ) - 6 out of 30 are related to this story, and the top two (of three stories with more than 900 votes) are about this. Until something genuinely new happens, it would be really nice if people stopped upvoting and posting this stuff.
Of course, that's not going to happen, because of the large contingent of users who want karma and think that this is interesting. This story is a really good way to get karma right now, as well as playing into the current meme of bashing Airbnb that's going around (last week it was bashing G+, before that it was bashing Dropbox. I treasure the moments when HN is not up in arms about something).
EDIT: Am I being downvoted for my (admittedly cynical) analysis of why this story is so prominent? It would be nice if one of you would explain why, so I can avoid making the same mistake in the future.
