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Comment by pg | Hacker News Reader

I recently went to an office warming party at Airbnb's new place. My first thought when I walked out of the elevator was "this company is going public." A lot of startups, even quite big ones, hope/expect in the backs of their minds that one day they'll end up being acquired. But Airbnb has palpably settled in for the long haul, and you can sense it. And that is a big source of power for them.

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Can you help us understand why/how you sensed it. What are the factors which influenced this remarks. I am sure others will get benifitted too. More over I would also like to know how can/will they handle bad publicity like some one using airbnb for wrong illigal stuff like prostitution.

why am i getting down voted? I am just curious to know how they will handle this situation?

There are built in feedback mechanisms to encourage responsible behavior from both parties which makes it less likely that someone would use AirBnB to commit "illegal" acts (not entirely illegal in all markets). You're being down voted because here's why it doesn't make sense to use it for prostitution:

- Many AirBnB listings are shared spaces so you're getting a spare bedroom or a couch/futon so the privacy factor is not there.

- You have a traceable identity on AirBnB so if it was illegal, you would be leaving a trail of evidence pointing to you.

- Your host would most likely ask you to leave and then you would get banned from the site or get a really negative review which would prevent you from using the service again.

Mostly, it's just not something that is going to be common enough to be a big problem and like I mentioned, there are built in feedback mechanisms to discourage bad behavior.

You dont have to down vote sombody if he had asked a silly question. You could juzz explain it the way you did.

Assumption made here is people will report and provide review comments. if they (who want to do illigal stuff) select places to get one room and behave normally and decently in public, nobody will ever report anything. I am not saying it will be a widespread practice, but all it takes is one dead fish to dirt the pond.

And nobody answered the first part of my question. ie the factors that promted or inspired PG to make that remark when he visited them.

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