My Biased Coin
mybiasedcoin.blogspot.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2008
Michael Mitzenmacher, a Harvard computer science professor, blogs about algorithms, hashing, Bloom filters, and academic life.
What HN saysHN links it for cuckoo hashing explanations and for the Groupon and Yelp ratings study, which commenters discuss and question.
18HN people shared it
4linked it in comments
20stories submitted
253story points
5 years agolast shared
2008people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Cuckoo Hashing3 people · 48 points · first shared 2008 · 2 comments on HN
- 2The effect of Groupon promotions on Yelp ratings2 people · 93 points · first shared 2012 · 27 comments on HN
- 3How to send a real number using a single bit (and some shared randomness)1 people · 53 points · first shared 2021 · 51 comments on HN
- 4Computer Science 222: A Discussion1 people · 11 points · first shared 2009 · 1 comments on HN
- 5Cuckoo Filters1 people · 11 points · first shared 2014 · 1 comments on HN
- 6Algorithms for Newbies: Static or Dynamic?1 people · 8 points · first shared 2008 · discussion on HN
- 7Hash Table with Preemptive Bloom Filter1 people · 5 points · first shared 2009 · discussion on HN
- 8CS undergraduate enrollment is increasing1 people · 5 points · first shared 2008 · discussion on HN
- 9How to get the best employees? Hire above the Mean1 people · 5 points · first shared 2008 · discussion on HN
- 10Bubblesort isn't useless! (binpacking)1 people · 3 points · first shared 2008 · 1 comments on HN
- 11Thinking Big (Memory)1 people · 2 points · first shared 2009 · discussion on HN
- 12CS theory for high school sophomores: Prof. Mitzenmacher1 people · 2 points · first shared 2008 · 2 comments on HN
- 13Some Notes on “Learned Bloom Filters”1 people · 1 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 14Programming for Non-Programming Exercises1 people · 1 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 15My Biased Coin: How Should We Choose Students?1 people · 1 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
dazbradbury · 2012-04-08
One of the comments on the blog perfectly sums up what would have been my hypothesis, so I will simply repeat it here:
Part of the drop may be due to Groupon inducing
people to visit a business selling something
they otherwise wouldn't be interested in.
E.g., I might check out a Greek restaurant
even though I'm indifferent to Greek food because
of a good deal and curiosity. Given the same
experience as someone who likes the cuisine,
I might then give a lower rating.
- Anonymous
http://mybiasedcoin.blogspot.com/2012/03/groupon-effect-on-yelp-rating…
neilc · 2008-06-01
jessaustin · 2013-03-11
If I were still a student I might hope that this will be a sort of "it gets worse before it gets better" moment, in that the faculty are the only party even theoretically capable of arresting Harvard's ethical and managerial decline. Experience indicates that having been blind for decades, they're unlikely to see the light now. The Harvard bureaucracy is big enough and old enough that its true purpose is itself. Only the faculty ever had the power to re-focus the bureaucracy's efforts on students and veritas. I wonder if they still have that power now.
Though TFA quotes several professors' criticisms of the administration's actions, I wonder how much of the issue they're really seeing. Mitzenmacher, for example, has in the past defended the Ad Board categorically. (e.g. http://mybiasedcoin.blogspot.com/2008/10/on-ad-board-harvard-centric-p… ) Prof. Lewis, however, I find an inspiration in every sense: academic, moral, human, etc. I just have the feeling that he is a lone voice of decency in Cambridge.
brokentone · 2012-05-15
Many people would disagree with you. Groupon has been shifty with their earnings and filings each time till now (e.g. http://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2011/11/22/history-repeating-it… and currently being investigated for it (http://ansonalex.com/infographics/groupon-sec-fililing-and-investigati… There have been various statements by former/current employees about inflating prices (http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-10-17/tech/30288824_1_sales-r… and others that find negative Yelp effect from Groupon (http://mybiasedcoin.blogspot.com/2012/03/groupon-effect-on-yelp-rating… and businesses almost shut down as a result (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/g…