edit: they're also talking about retaliatory ratings "if you give me a 1 I'll go back and change you to a 1 and you'll have a hard time getting picked up again", I thought that wasn't possible? Did Uber change that?
Not sure about on the driver side, but on the passenger side you could log into the desktop website & modify ratings for a previous ride. Was useful when a driver forced you to give 5 stars, you could revise it once you got back to your laptop.
Uber quality has improved in my city a lot since then though, at least for me. And I've personally had far worse experiences from regular taxis in the past[2], so I'm still a fan of Uber.
[1] https://twitter.com/syneryder/statuses/756130867269873664
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20170816073734/https://www.msn.c...
Agreed. Rather than tipping, I prefer Uber's other ideas like UberX Plus. For 20% extra, you get a driver with a 4.80 rating or higher. It's one way to make sure your driver earns more money for the same trip, and to encourage quality of service over lower price. There's also Uber Black, if you can afford to pay 2x the cost - I used to get Uber Black all the time, but unfortunately right now I can only afford/justify it on occasional trips.
Sadly, I think the ridesharing services have discovered (like airlines) that most people just want the cheapest cost, not better service. For some people that makes sense - eg my neighbour is a pensioner, and making Uber cheaper than a taxi means she can now afford to go more places, it's improved her life. But for those of us who liked the free mints & free water, a comfortable ride, and a driver who helps you with your bags, we've got to pay higher prices & choose higher tiers to make those service levels sustainable.
EFIT: because of the downvotes I want to clarify that I meant: if Uber is developing towards other, older taxi companies it’s maybe because of human nature and not because they wanted to become like that