Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

Re:Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson lea... by darklajid on Wednesday July 27, 2011 @04:36AM (#2811330)

How is that relevant? Apart from the fact that valuables were locked in, I don't get the point:

- You cannot take everything with you, you have to leave stuff at your _home_ (all the documents mentioned for example).

- I won't try to claim that I can speak for the author, but I'd guess that the valuables lost are less a problem. The violation/emotional troubles seem to be worse.

- Giving the nature of the destruction (it seems so much on purpose, so carefully done) I don't even know if 'did not meet them in person first' would've helped. At least the author would recognize these guys again on the street, but I don't believe that it is proven that you would've sensed something that wrong.. It kind of reads like someone enjoyed a dark fetish by destroying random stuff.

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Re:Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson lea... by erikpukinskis on Wednesday July 27, 2011 @05:01AM (#2811383)

You cannot take everything with you, you have to leave stuff at your _home_ (all the documents mentioned for example).

In light of this article, if I ever rented my apartment out for a week, I would box up any sensitive documents, or particularly valuable items, and leave them at a friend's house.

I don't even know if 'did not meet them in person first' would've helped.

Getting a scan of a photo ID, matching it to the person, and possibly getting a current photo of them, along with a license plate number all would be reasonable measures that you could take in a five minute meeting. Not only would they give you more leverage in police investigations, they would probably deter people from trashing/taking your stuff.

The violation/emotional troubles seem to be worse.

Some of the violation comes from the feeling that she can't really do very much about it, and that she was totally unprepared for it. AirBnB offering a few tips, of the "here are some things people to do protect themselves, you might consider them" variety, seems totally reasonable.

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Re:Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson lea... by javaecc123 on Wednesday July 27, 2011 @10:20AM (#2812242)

How is that not relevant? I used craigslist to sell a car recently and with strangers showing up asking for solo test drives, the least I could do was ask for a valid license so I could make a copy and a cell phone number, which I verified on the spot. That or no solo test drive. True in extreme cases this would not have stopped my car getting stolen, but I cannot imagine leaving a house full of personal documents and valuables to a stranger whose sex and last name I did not even know. You can tell a lot from meeting someone in person, at least enough to raise red flags or some doubt and maybe have a neighbor check in from time to time.I think airbnb and the internet in general lull some otherwise smart, educated people into a false sense of security they wouldn't have offline but people need to use just as much commonsense online as they would in the real world.

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