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Amazon has no idea how to run an app store

smashcompany.com

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Re: Amazon has no idea how to run an app store

#131

Post by meesterdude »

timrpeterson wrote: post #129
meesterdude wrote: post #124

Actual title: Amazon has absolutely no idea how to run an app store Why did the title change? It used to be the same as the original article, but now it's been needlessly editorialized to be kinder to amazon. Seriously? What the fuck. That's not HN's job, and is a disservice to the article, and the community.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark

Good comment, never knew about this as a concept but I've definitely seen it play out. (and what an amusing source of origin!)

But you might be right. I've been on HN for 3+ years and i've never seen anything like this happen before. This is clearly an abuse of power and is not in any way an act on the behalf of the community.

Re: Amazon has no idea how to run an app store

#132

Post by galactoise »

dang wrote: post #74

That title is over the top, so we replaced it with the much more neutral first sentence of the article.

The original title is correct in the literal sense - it is not an embellishment. There is ample evidence to support this assertion, and all of it is accessible in the Amazon Developer Forums. If you would like to make the claim that the OP is editorializing, the burden of proof is on you to show that Amazon does understand how to properly run this app store. Good luck with that, though.

Put the original title back.

Re: Amazon has no idea how to run an app store

#133

Post by rdtsc »

lmm wrote: post #80
rdtsc wrote: post #40

Or Amazon video on Android device I have -- in order to have play prime videos it told me to disable app source checking and side-load some .apk file, which will then help me get the Amazon video apk file... or something. Yeah forget that. At first I thought it was a joke of some sort. But I guess that's how you are supposed to do it. I'll just stick to Netflix and watch videos there. Somehow that manages to work wit…

What's the threat model there? It's not like Amazon are going to start stealing customer credit card numbers - if anything they're one of the few companies I'd trust to get security right. Tick the checkbox in settings, install the APK, untick the checkbox again. It's really not a lot of effort or risk. (The most sensible-sounding negative claim I've heard is that Amazon do that so that they can do more invasive loca…

> What's the threat model there?

* It annoys me as a consumer.

* It reeks of incomptency ( yeah, go and disable that security check that looks like it is there to prevent malicious software to be installed on your device, yeah, yeah, that one ).

* It is a convoluted process.

* It leaves my device vulnerable. Let's not speculate (like you did apparently) but copy and paste from their own source:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1003016...

---

Update Phone Settings

    Go to your phone Settings page
    Tap Security or Applications (varies with device)
    Check the Unknown Sources box
    Confirm with OK
Step 2 Go to Downloads

    Open Downloads on your device by going to My Files or Files
    Tap on the Amazon App file (Amazon_App.apk)
    Tap Install when prompted
Step 3 Launch Underground App

    Tap Open to launch the Amazon Underground App
    Use the Menu on the left and select Apps & Games
---

Yeah, I don't see anything about the "untick the checkbox again" part.

Re: Amazon has no idea how to run an app store

#134

Post by justin_vanw »

galactoise wrote: post #130
meesterdude wrote: post #124

Actual title: Amazon has absolutely no idea how to run an app store Why did the title change? It used to be the same as the original article, but now it's been needlessly editorialized to be kinder to amazon. Seriously? What the fuck. That's not HN's job, and is a disservice to the article, and the community.

The weird thing about the title change is that the new one isn't even true - they've been running the Kindle app store for quite a while... The user "dang" posted further down in the comments saying that he changed it because the title was "over the top", which didn't seem like a good reason to me (but then again, I'm not a moderator). I can understand the desire to avoid sensationalism, especially if the belief is t…

Agree, they have been at it for about 5 years, since March, 2011 according to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Appstore

To whoever changed the title of this: I hope Amazon is paying you a lot of money (under the theory that it's somehow better to be willfully corrupt than just stupid).

Re: Amazon has no idea how to run an app store

#135

Post by coderdude »

meesterdude wrote: post #124

Actual title: Amazon has absolutely no idea how to run an app store Why did the title change? It used to be the same as the original article, but now it's been needlessly editorialized to be kinder to amazon. Seriously? What the fuck. That's not HN's job, and is a disservice to the article, and the community.

The submitted article and especially its title are both emotional to a fault and sensationalist. The arguments presented are backed up only by anecdote and cherry-picked comments from other people who have been rejected by Amazon. I've seen all this before. There's a reason why the article is scant on the details of the rejection. In the same way a rant about PayPal tends to exclude certain details that deflate the author's rage. His final paragraph is the icing on the cake. I'm glad to see the title change.

Re: Amazon has no idea how to run an app store

#137

Post by venning »

meesterdude wrote: post #124

Actual title: Amazon has absolutely no idea how to run an app store Why did the title change? It used to be the same as the original article, but now it's been needlessly editorialized to be kinder to amazon. Seriously? What the fuck. That's not HN's job, and is a disservice to the article, and the community.

The HN Guidelines [1] state that submissions "should use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait." While I am sure the emotions of the developers affected by this are legitimate and strong, the original title borders pretty heavily on linkbait; though I appreciate there is some debate there.

HN may strive to provide intellectually superior content, but that doesn't make me any less susceptible to linkbait.

For one, I appreciate some effort to prevent the front page of HN from devolving into 30 completely unedited, but completely unhelpful titles. If I wanted that, I would just read ads.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Amazon has no idea how to run an app store

#138

Post by meesterdude »

venning wrote: post #137
meesterdude wrote: post #124

Actual title: Amazon has absolutely no idea how to run an app store Why did the title change? It used to be the same as the original article, but now it's been needlessly editorialized to be kinder to amazon. Seriously? What the fuck. That's not HN's job, and is a disservice to the article, and the community.

The HN Guidelines [1] state that submissions "should use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait." While I am sure the emotions of the developers affected by this are legitimate and strong, the original title borders pretty heavily on linkbait; though I appreciate there is some debate there. HN may strive to provide intellectually superior content, but that doesn't make me any less susceptible to link…

It's more an opinion than linkbait; an opinion which gets tossed by the way side because it is found to be disagreeable. Do authors have no say in what they call their piece?

linkbait is, at least to me, more along the lines of "you'll never believe what these developers made" and this post is nothing of the sort.

Re: Amazon has no idea how to run an app store

#139

Post by overgard »

galactoise wrote: post #130
meesterdude wrote: post #124

Actual title: Amazon has absolutely no idea how to run an app store Why did the title change? It used to be the same as the original article, but now it's been needlessly editorialized to be kinder to amazon. Seriously? What the fuck. That's not HN's job, and is a disservice to the article, and the community.

The weird thing about the title change is that the new one isn't even true - they've been running the Kindle app store for quite a while... The user "dang" posted further down in the comments saying that he changed it because the title was "over the top", which didn't seem like a good reason to me (but then again, I'm not a moderator). I can understand the desire to avoid sensationalism, especially if the belief is t…

Yeah, they definitely changed the title to be less accurate. This new title is not only objectively worse, but pretty fucking cringeworthy in supplying an excuse to the company for no apparent reason. (And not even a true excuse!) Amazon can't stick up for themselves? The funny thing is that it's not like the original title is "sensationalist". Criticism is not the same thing as sensationalism.

Re: Amazon has no idea how to run an app store

#140

Post by venning »

meesterdude wrote: post #138
venning wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The HN Guidelines [1] state that submissions "should use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait." While I am sure the emotions of the developers affected by this are legitimate and strong, the original title borders pretty heavily on linkbait; though I appreciate there is some debate there. HN may strive to provide intellectually superior content, but that doesn't make me any less susceptible to link…

It's more an opinion than linkbait; an opinion which gets tossed by the way side because it is found to be disagreeable. Do authors have no say in what they call their piece? linkbait is, at least to me, more along the lines of "you'll never believe what these developers made" and this post is nothing of the sort.

This is one of those squishy things that's hard to assess. For me, I would stop short of a title that would be unacceptable if you substituted a (private) person's name for the company/country/whatever mentioned. If it was "Susan has absolutely no idea how to ..." I would call it "over the top" myself, but I'm no moderator. The guidelines also discourage "gratuitous adjective[s]" in titles, of which "absolutely" applies.

> Do authors have no say in what they call their piece?

Absolutely. No one is asking smashcompany.com to change their title. But this isn't smashcompany.com either.

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