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In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

nytimes.com

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Re: In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

#31

Post by lonelappde »

Causality1 wrote: post #15
memmcgee wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Amazon the marketplace was solely responsible for the upkeep of the marketplace, they'd be more inclined to actually maintain it in a working manner. Not to mention it'd be easier for publishers to sue them to compel compliance.

It does get a bit absurd. Prime Video has excellent content but having to access it through Amazon.com makes me feel like a theater is forcing me to walk through a gift shop to get to my seat.

So, like every theater, which is primarily funded by its concession booth?

Re: In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

#32

Post by stordoff »

TheCycoONE wrote: post #14

Conflating reviews of different editions is the straw that makes it impossible for the shopper. I was looking to buy a translation of 1001 Arabian Nights. Some reviews warned of scams, some spoke positively of the quality of the translation, but they were the same reviews on every translation and every edition. I gave up. That much seems like a simple change too... simpler than conflating them. The only explanation I…

I've stopped looking at Amazon reviews (on physical products) for more or less this exact reason. They too often don't apply (something along the lines of "Picture quality isn't up to modern standards", then I realise I'm looking at a review of the DVD version from a decade ago rather than the UHD release I was _actually_ considering), mention features the product simply doesn't have (because they have combined two barely related products in one listing), or are misleading ("this fits over a two-gang socket", when in fact only one of them does, and it's virtually impossible to notice as the only difference is opaque model codes / "this battery is also known as XX" when in fact it's one of the other types on the same listing).

Even when the reviews do technically apply, they are often useless (multiple 1-star top reviews: "I tried to use it for HDMI to DisplayPort, but it didn't work"; description: "From DisplayPort to HDMI only (not bi-directional)").

I've also noticed that as I'm going off-site to find accurate information about the product anyway, I'm more frequently buying off-site. Looking around to save 50p or so usually isn't really worth it, but when I'm off Amazon _anyway_, it is. I can think of at least three orders in the few weeks to other sellers that in the past would have gone to Amazon, either because I was wanting the information from the reviews or I'm just in the habit of not going to Amazon first.

Re: In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

#33

Post by nimih »

lonelappde wrote: post #29
TylerE wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a complicated issue. Modern translations (written in the last 30 years, say) are way way better than the public domain editions, not least because they don't have puritanical Victorians editing out all the "scandalous" bits.

Were Victorians Puritan?

Historically speaking, the puritanical have never really been all that hindered by a lack of Puritanism.

Re: In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

#34

Post by PKop »

p1itopre wrote: post #3

There is indeed a problem that the article describes: book pirates with very little oversight selling books on Amazon and making a profit for both. A result of this practice is that people get substandard copies of books with typos. The headline suggests that these typos are sinister ("newspeak"). If that were true, that would be an entirely different and also disturbing problem. I did not find any mention of these e…

Implying, so far, all that's lacking is the motivation to create sinister disinformation, not the means.. which this article demonstrates now exist.

Re: In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

#35

Post by kuzehanka »

TylerE wrote: post #22
not_a_cop75 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least the good news is with 1001 Arabian Nights is you don't have to buy it. Project Gutenberg has at least one good version.

This is a complicated issue. Modern translations (written in the last 30 years, say) are way way better than the public domain editions, not least because they don't have puritanical Victorians editing out all the "scandalous" bits.

What were the scandalous bits?

Re: In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

#36

Post by Causality1 »

lonelappde wrote: post #31
Causality1 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does get a bit absurd. Prime Video has excellent content but having to access it through Amazon.com makes me feel like a theater is forcing me to walk through a gift shop to get to my seat.

So, like every theater, which is primarily funded by its concession booth?

Yes. Hence me visiting a movie theater perhaps twice a year instead of every weekend.

Re: In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

#37

Post by TylerE »

kuzehanka wrote: post #35
TylerE wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a complicated issue. Modern translations (written in the last 30 years, say) are way way better than the public domain editions, not least because they don't have puritanical Victorians editing out all the "scandalous" bits.

What were the scandalous bits?

Sex (especially homosexulatity), drug use were major things

Re: In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

#38

Post by gordon_freeman »

TheCycoONE wrote: post #14

Conflating reviews of different editions is the straw that makes it impossible for the shopper. I was looking to buy a translation of 1001 Arabian Nights. Some reviews warned of scams, some spoke positively of the quality of the translation, but they were the same reviews on every translation and every edition. I gave up. That much seems like a simple change too... simpler than conflating them. The only explanation I…

This is my number 1 problem when buying books on Amazon especially the classic books (e.g. Meditations or Enchiridion etc.) that has many different translations and editions from various authors. All having the same reviews making it almost impossible for me to choose the right one.

Re: In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

#39

Post by Spooky23 »

dmix wrote: post #13
memmcgee wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Amazon the marketplace was solely responsible for the upkeep of the marketplace, they'd be more inclined to actually maintain it in a working manner. Not to mention it'd be easier for publishers to sue them to compel compliance.

How would this actually work in practice? Do you expect regulators to break out just the book store from the other ecommerce stuff? Would the whole shipping network, fulfilment, and distribution centers be repeated across all of these companies or would that be a separate company? What about the vendor marketplace and ecommerce code and massive analytics systems they built? Plus customers will have to go to multiple…

I’ve shopped at a Barnes and Noble and a smaller local bookstore for many years. Guess what... somehow they manage to find a way to not sell counterfeit or greymarket shit.

All of these technical issues are problems of Amazon’s creation. Amazon wrote a bunch of software that doesn’t provide a supply chain that can maintain the integrity of what they sell. Sound like their problem.

Re: In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

#40

Post by inflatableDodo »

memmcgee wrote: post #5

Amazing how a site that started by selling books now does an awful job doing just that. Another reason Amazon et al should be broken up.

To be fair, they have always done an awful job of selling books.

edit - 'Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle' - https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18am...

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