I'm pretty sure you would see these threads about Zürich if you were in a net community that has a substantial proportion of members living in or near Zürich.
I spend a lot of time in Zurich, and I’m in tech. Lotta googlers there. I haven’t seen any discussions like this about Zurich yet. When someone says Zurich is quite safe people nod and move on.
It’s not news and it’s not controversial.
Have you accounted for all confounding factors though? From my experiences of Germany, their news cycle isn't as hype-driven as the US's, I imagine Switzerland is even more restrained.
But the Swiss cities are so safe that people let 6yo kids go to school alone through the city center.
At night you can just go out and walk through the city with virtually no risk.
Accept that the two cities are not comparable in regard to crime, your reasoning above was flawed. Really, it's so safe that it feels weird, especially at night.
I didn't even bring up Zürich, the person I was replying to did.
And I'm not trying to claim that it's comparable. The only point I was trying to make is that this statement is reductio ad absurdum:
> Funny how people try so hard to show/prove/argue that SF is safe. If it was, these discussions wouldn’t exist.
Given the significant overlap between "people who live in or near SF because they work in tech, with a strong history of startups" and "people who discuss things on HN, a website about tech, with a strong history of startups", it's entirely unsurprising that people would discuss SF crime rates on HN, and the fact that they do so can't be construed as any form of evidence for any position.
I am pretty sure that when there is a stabbing in Zürich, locals will discuss it in their relevant online communities.
Sigh, I'm not even trying to affirm or deny anything about SF, I've only been there once, met some lovely homeless people, and some very unwell ones.
I tried looking up comparative crime rates; closest I could find was that for homicide, SF is 5 times worse per capita than Switzerland.
For a sense of scale for anyone who hasn't been, Switzerland has tax funded drinkable water fountains basically everywhere, and (if you will excuse the surprising conjunction) rolls of free bags for dog poo mounted on the dog poo bins which are also basically everywhere.
I'm not surprised, there's a lot more inequality in the US than in Switzerland.
Only point I was trying to make is that this statement is reductio ad absurdum:
> Funny how people try so hard to show/prove/argue that SF is safe.
If it was, these discussions wouldn’t exist.
Given the significant overlap between "people who live in or near SF because they work in tech, with a strong history of startups" and "people who discuss things on HN, a website about tech, with a strong history of startups", it's entirely unsurprising that people would discuss SF crime rates on HN, and the fact that they do so can't be construed as any form of evidence for any position.
Sigh, I'm not even trying to affirm or deny anything about SF, I've only been there once, met some lovely homeless people, and some very unwell ones.
My only time there, in town for some fancy proprietary DB training, the only accommodation I could get (due to a Salesforce conference) was right beside the Tenderloin. That was an experience.