Amazon’s $23M book about flies (2011) • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon’s $23M book about flies (2011)

#51

Post by radmuzom » Mon, Sep 28, 2015, 1:29 PM UTC

jevgeni wrote: post #42

anc84 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish Amazon reviews were useful and not a mixture of a) angry rants, b) bought reviews and c) jokes.

I have a system, where I read the most negative reviews of the book. If the reviews are eloquent and make a solid point, I don't buy the book. If the negative reviews are mostly whiny,emotional rants without any valid solid arguments, then the book is most definitely worth it. A case in point: http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...

(Off-topic) The top rated review of this book is from Peter Norvig. He states "For most books, the review is a bell-shaped curve of star ratings". However, as a habitual window-shopper of books in Amazon, I have rarely come across rating distributions which look like normal. In my experience, 2 and 3 ratings are much less common than 5, 4 or 1.

Re: Amazon’s $23M book about flies (2011)

#52

Post by ctdonath » Mon, Sep 28, 2015, 1:33 PM UTC

jevgeni wrote: post #42

anc84 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish Amazon reviews were useful and not a mixture of a) angry rants, b) bought reviews and c) jokes.

I have a system, where I read the most negative reviews of the book. If the reviews are eloquent and make a solid point, I don't buy the book. If the negative reviews are mostly whiny,emotional rants without any valid solid arguments, then the book is most definitely worth it. A case in point: http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...

I'll second that method. Positive reviews are uninteresting; 1-star reviews reveal whether there really is a problem/deficiency, as usually the complaint is unrelated ("product arrived damaged"), misguided (expectations were bafflingly far from what product is, "this washcloth is a lousy database manager"), or a fluke (50,000 5-star reviews and one "one page was folded, replacement was fast & free").

Re: Amazon’s $23M book about flies (2011)

#53

Post by pbhjpbhj » Mon, Sep 28, 2015, 1:38 PM UTC

anc84 wrote: post #19

acqq wrote: post #2

From the comments on the Amazon page: "What a steal! By John Taylor Kesler on April 25, 2011, Format: Paperback I was fortunate enough to buy this at the bargain price of $19,087,354 there must have been a sale because the next day it was listed at $23M. I was very pleased to find upon arrival that the book contained very useful information, however to be honest I was expecting a few more pictures for the price paid.…

I really wish Amazon reviews were useful and not a mixture of a) angry rants, b) bought reviews and c) jokes.

Slashdot-style moderation works well for this IMO: give ratings for usefulness, humour, etc., use meta-moderation to moderate the moderators (maintain a moderation profile so that you can reverse moderations from poor actors).

Steam does something similar in having the humour moderation so that things don't get moderated as useful just because they're funny.

Re: Amazon’s $23M book about flies (2011)

#54

Post by radmuzom » Mon, Sep 28, 2015, 1:38 PM UTC

EStudley wrote: post #32

anc84 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish Amazon reviews were useful and not a mixture of a) angry rants, b) bought reviews and c) jokes.

Youtube comments have the same atmosphere. Comments on these sites should have hidden "like/dislike" counters akin to Hacker News.

Not sure whether you comment above is directed at Youtube only, but Amazon does have "Was this review helpful to you?". I believe voting on Yes makes it more prominent. As usual, this kind of system is subject to fan-boy treatment. I once left a 1 star review of a game which I genuinely disliked and gave my reasons (involved tinkering around graphics settings in XML files); there were a lot of clicks on the "No" button to the above question, presumably because the fan-boys could not tolerate someone criticizing their favourite game.

Re: Amazon’s $23M book about flies (2011)

#55

Post by inversionOf » Mon, Sep 28, 2015, 1:40 PM UTC

yc1010 wrote: post #22

Everyone is missing the point, this is an example of money laundering 1. Get dirty cash from drug sales, prostitution, etc and buy amazon.com giftcards in shops in US 2. Input the codes into various amazon buyer account(s) 3. Buy the book(s) from these account(s) 4. Amazon takes a cut and pays clean money into authors bank account.

I worked for years on AML systems for banks. This isn't money laundering. Indeed, I don't believe I've ever seen a "this is money laundering!" comment on a social news site that wasn't entirely and completely off the mark of real money laundering, but just seems to be a go-to for things that people don't understand.

Re: Amazon’s $23M book about flies (2011)

#56

Post by maratd » Mon, Sep 28, 2015, 2:02 PM UTC

jevgeni wrote: post #42

anc84 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish Amazon reviews were useful and not a mixture of a) angry rants, b) bought reviews and c) jokes.

I have a system, where I read the most negative reviews of the book. If the reviews are eloquent and make a solid point, I don't buy the book. If the negative reviews are mostly whiny,emotional rants without any valid solid arguments, then the book is most definitely worth it. A case in point: http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...

> I have a system, where I read the most negative reviews of the book. If the reviews are eloquent and make a solid point, I don't buy the book.

This works surprisingly well for any product on Amazon.

Re: Amazon’s $23M book about flies (2011)

#57

Post by ma2rten » Mon, Sep 28, 2015, 2:15 PM UTC

inversionOf wrote: post #55

yc1010 wrote: post #22

Everyone is missing the point, this is an example of money laundering 1. Get dirty cash from drug sales, prostitution, etc and buy amazon.com giftcards in shops in US 2. Input the codes into various amazon buyer account(s) 3. Buy the book(s) from these account(s) 4. Amazon takes a cut and pays clean money into authors bank account.

I worked for years on AML systems for banks. This isn't money laundering. Indeed, I don't believe I've ever seen a "this is money laundering!" comment on a social news site that wasn't entirely and completely off the mark of real money laundering, but just seems to be a go-to for things that people don't understand.

How does real money laundering work? Do you think that the other comments about electronics being sold for money laundering are also off mark? Also how realistic was breaking bad, where they brought a carwash and put it in some fake receipts.

Re: Amazon’s $23M book about flies (2011)

#58

Post by mikeash » Mon, Sep 28, 2015, 2:16 PM UTC

RaSoJo wrote: post #41

kennydude wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It also waived the usual $15 overdraft fee. That was nice of them

What would have happened - if the person had just decided to abscond without enquiring or paying this bill?

You know the old saying. If you owe the bank a hundred dollars, that's your problem; if you owe the bank twenty-three quadrillion dollars, that's the bank's problem.

Re: Amazon’s $23M book about flies (2011)

#59

Post by simonebrunozzi » Mon, Sep 28, 2015, 2:22 PM UTC

jevgeni wrote: post #42

anc84 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish Amazon reviews were useful and not a mixture of a) angry rants, b) bought reviews and c) jokes.

I have a system, where I read the most negative reviews of the book. If the reviews are eloquent and make a solid point, I don't buy the book. If the negative reviews are mostly whiny,emotional rants without any valid solid arguments, then the book is most definitely worth it. A case in point: http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...

Yours sounds a great approach. I've tried many, and I always look at negative reviews, however I should weigh them more.

Re: Amazon’s $23M book about flies (2011)

#60

Post by codeulike » Mon, Sep 28, 2015, 2:24 PM UTC

The other day we wanted a copy of the children's book 'Vincent the Vain', a short picture book about a gorilla. 'Daily Deal' are selling a copy for £999.11. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0747584990

But they're the only people selling a new copy, so its not a feedback loop as in OP. So whats going on there?