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Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

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Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#431
post #12

For those who don't watch the video: This is about his affiliate account. It is surprising, that there is so little competition for affiliates these days. Amazon seems to be almost the only game in town. Sure, there are thousands of other affiliate programs. But they pay surprisingly little. Often affiliates earn only like $0.05 per click (on average). While the same company pays $1 per click on other channels like G…

If I were to summarize this video to those who didn't watch it, it definitely wouldn't be "this is about his affiliate account." Reading further, one would get the impression that this video is about affiliate scams, driving people further and further away from the actual topic of the video.

That's not the main topic of the video at all. Rossmann stresses that he isn't reliant on the affiliate program, and doesn't care that it got terminated. What he does care, is the stated reason for the termination.

What happened is pretty clear. Rossmann made a video critical of Amazon after they randomly terminated a person's account, made unfounded accusations in a phone call, only to silently reinstate the account weeks after without so much as an apology. Days after the video goes viral, Amazon terminates his affiliate account that he used in his YouTube videos.

Amazon, without evidence, states that the reason for terminating the affiliate account is because Rossmann scammed Amazaon by encouraging his friends and family to buy things through his affiliate links. But it's obvious Amazon is doing this in retaliation and the reason is made up to discredit him.

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#432
post #172

To use Amazon's terminology here, it really feels like they're becoming a Day Two company. It took decades to cultivate the perception that Amazon cares about customers more than any other company. It takes so much less to destroy that image. Google has already started paying the price for their customer-hostile behavior. It's a meme at this point how unreliable Google is for anything. Amazon and AWS have consistentl…

What does "Day Two company" mean?

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> only one is good Er ... which one? The one where fund managers who get bonuses for quarterly performance decide stuff? Seriously, we're getting into "banality of evil" territory ...

> Seriously, we're getting into "banality of evil" territory ... And what? That means it's fine to just dismiss as if it's not a problem?

I've somehow created a thread that's attracted presumably independently wealthy people who think pension funds are evil.

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from just hoping the companies come around , what do you suggest then? Or are we perhaps just screwed and have to walk on eggshells when we are on the internet?

We should not expect that some mistical fater figure or "they" will solve everything for us. Yes, we need to use the internet as there were hostile elements out there and without blind trust and blind fury that someone is not acting on our behalf all the time. Some regulation is necessary for most serious or common matters but regulations are not a magic wand that will solve all of our problems without effort from th…

I always think of "they" as "us" — the society we make create to serve our collective interests. And that is exactly what it exists for, why we create it‚ because it is required to change the things we as individuals are incapable of addressing.

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't wait for some regulation that forces these megacorps to explain why they decided to ban you.

Folks violate TOS all the time. Sometimes, users have to do it just to use the service. An explanation in these cases is essentially worthless. You think Amazon is going to let government pass a law that hurts them? Half the time, it's big businesses _writing_ the laws. And when it's not, the big businesses can afford to break the law (i.e. pay lawyers to hold off for a cost-effective settlement) while small business…

This is why I'm happy to live in the EU.

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#436
post #72
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't watched the video and was very happy to have a summary. What makes you question it was written by an AI?

It’s pretty obvious.

For the downvoters, if you can’t tell this is an AI you’re gonna be in real trouble if these models actually get good.

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#437
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that the 20 times lower PPC on affiliate links vs Google Ads is due to market forces. From the numbers I see, Google Ads are paid roughly "correctly". The ad spent per new customer is somewhere around the lifetime value of the customer. At least in competitive verticals. But for affiliate links, it is about 20 times lower. Your argument that market forces should drive the affiliate market towards the sa…

The ad spend is around the customer's LTV? Then why even bother acquiring them?

Google is very good at harvesting the values out of verticals. Ads is basically their only revenue source.

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#439
post #172

To use Amazon's terminology here, it really feels like they're becoming a Day Two company. It took decades to cultivate the perception that Amazon cares about customers more than any other company. It takes so much less to destroy that image. Google has already started paying the price for their customer-hostile behavior. It's a meme at this point how unreliable Google is for anything. Amazon and AWS have consistentl…

What does "Day Two company" mean?

It's lingo from Amazon's corporate culture. This article explains it well: https://aws.amazon.com/executive-insights/content/how-amazon...

> Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day 1.

Re: Amazon cancels my account after exposing account lockout for “racist doorbell” [video]

#440
post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always vote with the majority, on principle, so I come up on top everytime

I asked if they can , regardless of what you or they do. If they can , then you have no power and you do not work for yourself.

And I replied, no, the CANNOT, because I always vote the majority.
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