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> if they weren't the market leader we would somehow all come around to agreeing this is the ultimate "growth hack" or appreciating Uber's "hustle"

I'm not so sure about that. This is playing dirty no matter who is doing it.

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And yet if you post about AirBnB's history of spamming Craigslist users, you'll get downvoted into oblivion. Playing dirty is considered okay on HN so long as you're a YC company.

I would also consider that playing dirty, although not as much as answering ads, accepting the room, then canceling last minute.

Actively requesting your competitor's service and then cancelling it is in a whole other league of scamminess than simply sending out a bunch of unsolicited e-mails to potential users, IMHO. Not a fan of AirBNB's tactics either, but Uber's are way more predatory.

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