Same reason I always rate customer service reps a 5 (unless something really appalling happened). Most companies would prefer you not provide feedback at all than provide a lower 5 rating on a 1-5 scale.

Sure, you don't have any responsibility to understand what is going to happen with the ratings, but once you do, it seems overly punitive to give low ratings.

I agree that the rating system is stupid, but also that there's a position of power that comes with being a rider. Assuming you had a safe, pleasant journey, it should be a 5 star journey. If the driver was objectively rude, the car dirty, or you felt unsafe, then obviously that's a good case to rate someone lower.

I recommend (to everyone interested) asking a few friends how they use star ratings, on Uber or anywhere else. My experience is that people say all of "I give three stars for average", "I give four stars for average because we're used to grade inflation", and "I give 5 stars unless there was a reason to subtract from it".

Given that, star ratings without explicit guidance on meaning are sort of a disaster. I'm not so much annoyed by which number Uber ties people's livelihoods to as by the whole decision to use a bad system when so many better ones are available.

Either Uber should review their baseline, and make it explicit that giving 4 or below will have severe consequences on the driver.

And uber has huge surplus of drivers - they are going to cull hard, and driver volume will still be high in their major profit centers.

If I tell you to sing the National Anthem all day and all night, or else I'll kill my neighbor, would you be at fault if you opt not to and and as a result I choose to kill my neighbor?