scuffed.
Amazon Dark Patterns
261–270 of 278 posts
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't always have the choice of just up and go. I developed a system for an american startup that gathered everything it could get its hands on through their Gmail accounts. Did I think that's unethical? Yes, but just quitting wasn't an option and it was perfectly legal. I switched to a new company when I could afford it and am now much happier. But suggesting to just quit the moment your company behaves unethica…
It's not perfectly legal if you ever do it to an EU user, now. This is why GDPR has some upsides -- it changes what was formerly just unethical into being illegal, which means that we as software engineers can push back against it more strongly.
We actually developed a GDPR module for about three weeks to catch that case. So we are legal again, since we provide all the tools you need to delete your data.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
Consider the other side of this argument: should reviews be timeless? Many times a (good faith) vendor will make small, incremental changes to a product that addresses concerns that low-star reviewers point out. However, the product page remains the same - it does not distinguish between "Seattle Coffee Beans - Batch A" and "Seattle Coffee Beans - Batch C". It simply says "Seattle Coffee Beans". So if you leave a rev…
If Batch C is different enough from Batch A that the reviews don't apply, then should it even be the same product?
In some cases, yes.
Books for example. Some print runs are terrible. So even if the content is great, terrible print quality or construction can lead to bad reviews.
Some books have numbered editions. But if the content is unchanged, should they be different products?
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
Consider the other side of this argument: should reviews be timeless? Many times a (good faith) vendor will make small, incremental changes to a product that addresses concerns that low-star reviewers point out. However, the product page remains the same - it does not distinguish between "Seattle Coffee Beans - Batch A" and "Seattle Coffee Beans - Batch C". It simply says "Seattle Coffee Beans". So if you leave a rev…
Even if there are some charitable explanations possible, the least courtesy would be to warn you that your comment had been removed and why. You could mark the comment as "outdated", it won't bother me (assuming something has really changed). Here, it creates the impression that my comment was swept under the rug for some dubious reasons. And this is probably the last time I ever comment on Amazon. That does not real…
Steam does this to an extent with game reviews. Old reviews aren't removed, but they show separate ratings of "Recent Reviews" and "All Reviews", effectively reducing the potency of old reviews.
That said, video games these days can change a lot from one year to another, whereas almost all of the products on Amazon will not do so.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait amazon edits your reviews? That's shaddy as hell, I can understand removing a review for "strong language" but changing its content without asking the author is borderline scammy. I couldn't find similar stories online (although admittedly that's pretty hard to search for). I'd think it would be a big deal if Amazon was caught doing that, wouldn't it be?
I don’t think there’s anything borderline about it. Sounds like outright fraud to me.
Yes, this should be criminal behavior and carry a prison sentence. I don't know if this is legally fraud, but it definitely should be.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even if there are some charitable explanations possible, the least courtesy would be to warn you that your comment had been removed and why. You could mark the comment as "outdated", it won't bother me (assuming something has really changed). Here, it creates the impression that my comment was swept under the rug for some dubious reasons. And this is probably the last time I ever comment on Amazon. That does not real…
Steam does this to an extent with game reviews. Old reviews aren't removed, but they show separate ratings of "Recent Reviews" and "All Reviews", effectively reducing the potency of old reviews. That said, video games these days can change a lot from one year to another, whereas almost all of the products on Amazon will not do so.
They actually have quite powerful tools, with a graph of reviews over time, the ability to select a custom time range from that, ..., I quite like their system.
I believe that got added to help people recognize and filter out review-bombing.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is why you, as a human, can read the review and ignore the part where a reviewer says “the shipping was slow”. I recently ordered a poster through Amazon. They sent me the wrong item 3 times . I gave up. And I can’t post a negative review despite it clearly being Amazons fault (not the shipper). I tried. Couldn’t. At least they have excellent customer service, they didn’t jerk me around and each resolved the is…
> you, as a human, can read the review Yes, you can, if you ever get to the review page. The ratings on reviews average out into the product rating. If there is a zillion one star "shipping is slow and Amazon customer service sucks" reviews, the product (which might be of very high quality otherwise) will have a one start rating. So you are not likely to see the product, since it will not make it into any sort of rat…
It sounds like you think there are more products hidden by one star reviews on shipping than boosted by fake 5 star reviews. The former is not presently a problem on amazon (because they block shipping comments). The latter is a real problem that you will face every time you search for any product where there is any competition.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
I may be mistaken, but I heard reviews are deleted when the dev pushes an update to their app.
Yes this is correct. Apple added the option last year so developers can choose to reset all reviews when they release a new version or keep the old reviews. https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/07/ios-app-developers-will-be...
Sometimes this may make sense. I know of an app that decided to start from scratch due to the amassed bad reviews. Too bad for those who already paid for the buggy version, no updates now.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#269This has pissed me off in the past. My reviews getting rejected. The problem ultimately is that Amazon NOW has separate functions for reviewing a product and a seller. The product reviews are public, the seller reviews are not. If your review of a product is just bagging on the seller, it will be rejected. Like the one your wrote for the weights.
Re: Amazon Dark Patterns
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
They've really ramped up selling Prime in the checkout process. It's no longer easy to order from Amazon; it's this adversarial "spot the 5 traps" obstacle course where you have to avoid clicking the "sign me up for Prime" trick buttons.
I've noticed this as well. The trick is to _remove your credit card_ from your Amazon account. It significantly reduces the "traps" and prevents them from automatically subscribing you to Prime. I now purchase Amazon Gift cards instead (also, free shipping when using a gift card).
Oh hmm, the gift cards thing -- are the gift cards no-overhead? Like, can you buy a $100 gift card for yourself for $100, and then use it to buy things with free shipping?