The Anti-Amazon Alliance • Hacker News Board

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#411

Post by rhizome » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 6:35 PM UTC

som33 wrote: post #184

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is precisely why we need capitalism as well as strong, enforced antitrust laws.

No thanks, the internet has fundamentally changed society. Software companies can now steal software and hack everyones machine on an unprecedented scale. The last 20 years of PC gaming has been one of theft and grand larceny by steam, valve, EA and co. We used to get dedicated servers and level editors in games. The internet allows companies to steal software from the point of production, because 2 or more computers…

>The last 20 years of PC gaming has been one of theft and grand larceny by steam, valve, EA and co. We used to get dedicated servers and level editors in games.

We used to have to deposit a quarter every time our character died, and with zero save points.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#412

Post by rhizome » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 6:41 PM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #300

rhizome wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it still capitalism with strong antitrust? If so, why do capitalists keep chipping away at and denigrating antitrust laws? What about capitalism's concurrent drive: toward slavery for its workers? What about a third drive: zero taxes? Taken together, what is the benefit of the capitalist ideology at all, and to whom do those benefits accrue?

> Is it still capitalism with strong antitrust? IMO, this is like asking "is it still a democracy if the people don't decide on every bill directly?" In a sense, the answer is no–but I still feel comfortable using the word democracy. I'm going to keep going with this analogy—IMO, idolizing the idea of a completely unregulated market is akin to idolizing the governing structure of ancient Athens. Yes, the rules we've…

I hope that in this light we can agree that using the term "free market" as a cudgel is a sign of immaturity.

I think you're caught up in an is/ought conundrum though: "idolizing the idea of a completely unregulated market" is the discourse! That's the pro-side rhetoric in a nutshell, how bills and laws get passed, and how the (US) economic system is constructed. So don't blame my inference, it's just what I'm reading in the newspaper.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#413

Post by som33 » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 7:38 PM UTC

rhizome wrote: post #411

som33 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No thanks, the internet has fundamentally changed society. Software companies can now steal software and hack everyones machine on an unprecedented scale. The last 20 years of PC gaming has been one of theft and grand larceny by steam, valve, EA and co. We used to get dedicated servers and level editors in games. The internet allows companies to steal software from the point of production, because 2 or more computers…

> The last 20 years of PC gaming has been one of theft and grand larceny by steam, valve, EA and co. We used to get dedicated servers and level editors in games. We used to have to deposit a quarter every time our character died, and with zero save points.

Trying to conflate arcade games with games you software you buy are non comparable, trying to justify theft of software when the population clearly doesn't want drm or authoritarian software as a service models.

Steam would have never got off the ground in 2004 if we had portal technology, man would have gotten killed.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#414

Post by subhobroto » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 8:45 PM UTC

dllthomas wrote: post #45

subhobroto wrote: post #21

Amazon is successful because they allow people to order cheap consumer goods real fast, sometimes same day and have a great return policy to boot. The typical consumer does not care about "Made in U.S.A" vs "Made in China" vs "Made in Taiwan". They do care whether it's $9 vs $27. The typical consumer does not care whether the workers were paid fair wages and given enough bathroom breaks so as not to urinate in a bott…

A contract killer is also responding to market forces. Sometimes people are willing to pay for things we don't want to allow them, and we judge (and punish) the people who provide them. I'm not taking a position on monstrosity, or lack there of, but the reasoning provided seems flawed.

> A contract killer is also responding to market forces. Sometimes people are willing to pay for things we don't want to allow them, and we judge (and punish) the people who provide them. I'm not taking a position on monstrosity, or lack there of, but the reasoning provided seems flawed.

The reasoning was provided in context.

It's reasonable to strip a murderer of their physical freedom - it's unreasonable for anyone to do it to you unless you are a murderer.

You would agree that your neighbors or even you are ordering regularly from Amazon, yes?

In other words, your neighbors or even you are explicitly condoning the processes adopted by Amazon, yes?

The reasoning was provided in that context.

If your neighbors are regularly engaging the services of a contract killer, I would perhaps, move.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#415

Post by subhobroto » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 8:45 PM UTC

dsabanin wrote: post #42

seph-reed wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Jeff Bezos is not the monster here - he's just responding to market forces. Market forces are not moral. You don't get a free pass on your actions because you made a bunch of money.

The way different societies organize themselves is they tend to incentivize behavior that is beneficial to their continuation. Society who incentivizes non-beneficial behavior will eventually collapse and be replaced by a more fitting one. If society is to give out free passes for suboptimal behavior to anyone, it's going to be to those who provide it the most value. Kind of like Amazon does to a lot of people right…

> If society is to give out free passes for suboptimal behavior to anyone, it's going to be to those who provide it the most value. Kind of like Amazon does to a lot of people right now.

Right on!

I don't understand why this is so hard to understand.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#416

Post by mastre_ » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 10:02 PM UTC

pas wrote: post #267

Loughla wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>their website is almost nothing more than Ebay in some sense I would argue that it's even worse. At least, IME, the ratings at E-bay for both sellers and products mean something. With Amazon, neither mean a damned thing anymore. It's just a crap shoot, unless you know exactly what you're already looking for. Amazon used to be nice, because you could actually do product research. The worst thing, again in my opinion,…

> unless you know exactly what you're already looking for. I know what I'm looking for, but most of the products are impossible to evaluate, because there is just not enough info/data. Low res bad stock photos, terse description, no full technical specs, etc. And many Amazon sellers don't sell anywhere else, they don't even have a real website, so ... good luck deciding based on that. And since Amazon become so big,…

> no full technical specs

Blows my mind that this is an actual issue. It just doesn't make sense that _this_ would be an issue, yet it totally is. Oftentimes you don't even know for sure what's included with a product and you have to sift thru the comments (reviews & Q&As) to figure out if what you think is included is indeed included as there is no clear indication in the listing. Very low quality in this regard. eBay, OTOH, is very specific because sellers vying for your attention want to make sure you know exactly what you're buying.

If eBay offered something which tightly integrated 2-Day Delivery, they could become a legit competitor on the non-media services side.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#417

Post by wkearney99 » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 11:44 PM UTC

sanderjd wrote: post #392

jay_kyburz wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just get a little step, it's all my boys needed.

You mean for the potty? She is too little, she falls through the seat. (It's pretty early for potty training, but she is interested in it.) We do also have a step.

Kohler makes a great kids seat. Probably not small enough for initial potty training, but it worked quite well for our household toilet until our child was about 6. Now it's on a toilet near the rec room, for guest kiddies.

Upside is it soft-closes, so as to not BANG shut.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#418

Post by wkearney99 » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 11:46 PM UTC

PhineasRex wrote: post #322

bb2018 wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd still like to know what category of product you and others are talking about. I'm not in denial - just legitimately curious.

In my personal experience there's a huge problem with counterfeit beauty products on Amazon. Even when it's not counterfeit a lot of brands sell a cheaper version on Amazon than they do through other retailers.

Much like clothing lines making deliberately cheaper items for so-called 'Factory Stores' in outlet-like malls.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#419

Post by pas » Fri, May 01, 2020, 10:32 AM UTC

mastre_ wrote: post #416

pas wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> unless you know exactly what you're already looking for. I know what I'm looking for, but most of the products are impossible to evaluate, because there is just not enough info/data. Low res bad stock photos, terse description, no full technical specs, etc. And many Amazon sellers don't sell anywhere else, they don't even have a real website, so ... good luck deciding based on that. And since Amazon become so big,…

> no full technical specs Blows my mind that this is an actual issue. It just doesn't make sense that _this_ would be an issue, yet it totally is. Oftentimes you don't even know for sure what's included with a product and you have to sift thru the comments (reviews & Q&As) to figure out if what you think is included is indeed included as there is no clear indication in the listing. Very low quality in this regard. eB…

Exactly. On eBay contacting the seller to ask for more specs is completely okay. I don't even know if it's possible on Amazon. And I don't even care, the listings are so bad, scammy looking, it just discourages asking, after all why wouldn't they just send back a nonsense answer.