LYFT PISSES OFF USERS, NOTIFYING THEM TO CHANGE THEIR USER NAMES, OR ELSE
So Lyft has jumped into the moderation purity bonfire and its feet are now burned. Let’s just call those toes sausages, shall we? So if that doesn’t make sense yet here’s some background. Many service and social media platforms have taken some heat for not keeping their services “clean.” In other words, they haven’t been doing basic due diligence about improper content, messaging, or user participation. Sure, that makes sense, right? But sometimes they go too far. Other times, they burn down a forest because of one bad tree. That’s what Lyft has done. They notified users with questionable handles (or names) they’d lose their accounts if they didn’t change them to something more appropriate.
Read More: That Tumblr Porn Ban Has Put Sex Workers at Major Risk
IF YOUR NAME IS DICK, POON, FOWZY, YOU MAY HAVE HEARD FROM LYFT
But for us, it’s kind of funny. Well, for now, anyway. But I don’t really depend on Lyft. And I don’t have any investment in my user name. But for some Lyft users, this is no laughing matter. So maybe your username is Dick Assman. That’s not really ok for Lyft anymore. And yes, Dick Assman received a message. But Lyft sent messages to people whose real names seem inappropriate! And yes, that is an issue for Lyft. So much so that they had to issue a statement, saying, “Some members of the Lyft community were using names that were either inaccurate, offensive or both. In trying to fix the problem, we cast too wide of a net. We were well-intentioned, but our response clearly led to errors that we are working to correct, and we apologize.”
Related:
https://www.theblot.com/man-named-sober-arrested-drunk-driving/
LYFT CLEARLY OVERSTEPPED, AND KNOWS IT, AND THIS CONFLICT WILL NEVER GO AWAY
So if your name is some derivation related to Dick and you use your “Dick” name on Lyft, you likely got a message. I’d say try not to be a dick about this now. But I’d be pretty angry being told by a vendor I pay money to that I have to change my name. So here, again, we confront the ugly reality where three things converge: virtual safety and propriety, freedom of speech, and management. It’s not going away. But I seriously wouldn’t mind knowing Donald Trump’s Lyft handle. Anyone care to hazard a guess what it could be?
