Amazon Goes Wiki

StWaldo writes "Amazon.com has added a 'ProductWiki' to some of their item pages. Wikified items seem to be limited to certain categories, DVDs being one un-wikied realm. Adding Wikiness to the site is just the latest in new participatory activities Amazon has adopted, along with tags and customer discussions." From the article: "So Amazon's gradually allowing you, along with your Wish List, your purchases, your clickstream, and, if you sell anything on Amazon, how good your reputation is--to build up a pretty detailed database of what you like (or don't) and what's important to you. I don't know what Amazon will do with this--fortunately, it seems to have a pretty light touch with how it uses what it knows about you--or what it will allow us to do with all this data. But as it grows, it could become a pretty powerful profile."

Ah, but ...

The Amazon spokesman added that the wiki policy required contributions to be strictly NPOV, except for positive comments.

Patent?

I wonder if they will patent Wikis as well.

consumers: pathetic?

I like how they make it out that consumers seem to think that someone cares about what they do and don't appreciate. We all have more crap than we can ever use, but is there really adults out there making "wish lists"? I can't imagine it, but then again...

And in other news...

Tomorrow headline :
Amazon is granted patent for wikis and files suit against Wikipedia

Hope

Here's hoping Amazon will give us the means to control access to that profile and, ideally, use it throughout the Web to get what we really want, and avoid what we don't.

Let's hope :-)

Clickstream?

"Clickstream"? Who comes up with this stuff? Ick.

Re:Clickstream?

You should have seen the rejected names list:
    CashStream
    Shut Up and Give Us Your Earnings
    Christmas... Pony Up
    Amazon Love Linky Winky
    Obligatory Purchase
    Comsume, You Gluttons!
    Clown Anus Portal
    Ha! We Have One-Click Patented! You Don't!
    Real-Time Stock Link! Watch Stock Rise After Each Purchase

What will they do with all of that data?

Somewhere, somehow, there is a hurricane of advertising just waiting to annoy the Hell out of you. They will be marketing things like Star Wars collectables and case mods among other geeky things that you bought or searched for on Amazon. You will not be able to run, you will not be able to hide, Jamster will want to give you the latest Chewbacca ringtone.

wtf?

So what does the wiki have to do with my profile? It seems like it's more specific to the product than to me. And since it's just free prose, it'll be rather difficult to do any funny shazingle to my profile by analyzing my wiki entries.

jack thompson?

yo. someone get me the link to jack thompson's book and the accompanying wiki, so everyone on slashdot can vandalize it ;)

(disclaimer: i do not condone the use of vandalism when dealing with idiots. still, those pictures were damn funny.)

Not the first time for Amazon

This is not the first time Amazon has experimented with the wiki system. In 2003 they were working on a system called "Review Start". Users were allowed to submit their own review and make additions and edits to the product descriptions. The system was scrapped because Jeff Bezos thought it would hurt search indexing and ultimately Amazon sales. It will be interesting to see how the wiki model works for them.

The Page I Made

Recommendations and alerts based on past purchases (or browses) seems pretty neat to me. I haven't looked really hard to see if it's there already, but what would make this even better is if it could be actively tuned. This would be particularly useful if it allowed you to remove certain categories. As an example, I recently bought some lesbian literature as a gift ... and now Amazon thinks I love lesbian literature. Whilst faintly amusing, I am not actually a lesbian (though I feel sure I would be if I were a girl, heh), and the main problem with this is that it dilutes the usefulness of the system.

Quick

Someone find a patent on wiki and sue. You know you want to.

Errors with Safari

I've been getting errors on Amazon pages as a result of the wiki (Javascript -- Null Value) on Safari with the last two MacOS systems. Amazon hasn't even responded to any of my messages about it, but I've got to say, even if an error is just harmless and can be bypassed by hitting "return," I'm not inclined to browse a site very often if I keep getting error pop-ups any more than if I'm getting ad pop-ups.

Anyone know if other OS/browser combos are causing problems?

Tag CDs which are copy controlled

If you've bought a CD through Amazon.com which is copy controlled, this is a good opportunity to tag it as such by leaving a note in the wiki. For example, I did this here [amazon.com] - nothing inflammatory, just a friendly note for others who are thinking about buying the CD. This is information that I personally would like to know before deciding to purchase a CD, and I expect some others here feel the same.

Link?

Maybe I'm just being stupid, but can anyone give me a link to the damn site? I can't find one anywhere, not even on Amazon's main site, or in the startlingly pathetic "help" page /. links to.

Limited to certain categories, not really

"Wikified items seem to be limited to certain categories, DVDs being one un-wikied realm."

Not really. It's scheduled for all categories, but the launch of this feature may temporarily conflict with the launch of others, thus it is dormant in some categories until various experiments settle.

Need to improve their searches first

I get very, very aggrivated at Amazon most of the time. I've found that unless you know EXACTLY what you are looking for when typing in your search text, the search is useless.

There used to be a day when you could literally just browse online on Amazon, and find things pretty easily. Now, with all the combined seaches and stuff, a simple search for a CD brings up 1000's of different matches, most of which have NOTHING to do with your CD or don't even contain the text of your search.

I usually Google for what I want, find the EXACT name of the item, then put it into Amazon's search.

The Amazon way....

Now Amazon will try to patent the Wiki concept. And we complain about Microsoft?!

the world is not fair

A company who patents obvious web-application technology is now freely using wiki technology (and getting publicity for it on what is now basically a webvertisement site). I can only continue not buying anything from them, trying to keep my rage in check.

Hah, no only kidding.

:|

not offtopic

the article is about amazon building up information about you and your preferences. this leads to "silos" that do not interoperate. can this be shared with ebay, or other sites so that you don't have to teach all media commerce sites what types of things you like? no. perhaps a community based repository for preferences makes more sense. watch dick hardt's message from oscon - it just makes sense.

http://www.identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/ [identity20.com]

Re:So is Amazon spyware ?

The data is there just in case we forgot what it was that we wanted, it's not spyware. Why, what if you fell and hit your head on your new Xbox 360, and had sudden amnesia as to what games you were going to buy? Log on to good old Amazon, they know what you were planning to get!

Re:my amazon horror

I have one word for you friend: compensation. Being out that much money is not a laughing matter, especially if it's disrupted your plans (for shopping, celebrating the holiday, etc) and caused you to miss bill payments.

If I were you, I'd be complaining to them very loud and very clear. Sure, it was a fuck up rather than anything malicious - but it was *their* fuck up, it's caused *you* pain, so they should splash a little cash to say sorry and help put things right. At the very least, they should reimburse any expenses you incur (eg interest charges, fees for late payment of bills, etc)

Re:So is Amazon spyware ?

How the fuck can this be called spyware? I would have thought that spyware is, by definition, software that spys on your behaviour. This is a wiki, a web page. It doesn't run on your machine, and users have to wilfully input the information. There's nothing secretive about this at all. If Amazon want to search your contributions for keywords or something, then fine. But then it's called data mining. Not spyware.

Re:So is Amazon spyware ?

OTOH, Google has more and doesn't get us calling it spyware. It's all collected legitimately, and not used for anything actively harmful to us.

Re:my amazon horror

Why not dispute the charges with your CC company? That'll get Amazon's attention in a hurry.

Re:So is Amazon spyware ?

Right, Evil Evil Amazon for collecting information that will help me buy other products in the future.
I go to the Amazon website willingly, i know that they are collecting this information, i even help them by marking how much i liked the items i've ordered.
There is no conspiracy here.
There is a context for this information gathering.
Are you going to withold your medical history from the doctor that's treating you?

Boo hoo

Wow... you got screwed over by an anonymous international corporation? Wow! I'm so surprised! But really, you won't get any sympathy from me. You want to not support your local economy so you can pinch a few pennies? Fine by me. You get what you deserve.

I really don't understand people who think that they can go to Amazon or Ebay in order to screw local retailers and save themselves a few bucks, yet get the same quality customer service. Customer service isn't free. Shop at a real store next time (even better... an independent retailer) and I can almost guarantee that you'd have much, much better service.

Re:Boo hoo

Firstly there *are* no 'local' stores any more - they're all part of big national chains.

Secondly, they all charge 25%-50% more than online charges, have fewer items available, and don't get me started on customer support - those idiots wouldn't know support if it hit them on the head.

I've had *far* better support from online retailers than I have ever had from 'local' stores.

Re:Boo hoo

Firstly there *are* no 'local' stores any more - they're all part of big national chains.

That's simply not true. I own quite a successful one, thank you.

Secondly, they all charge 25%-50% more than online charges, have fewer items available, and don't get me started on customer support - those idiots wouldn't know support if it hit them on the head.

25-50% more? I doubt that. They will be more expensive, sure, because they create good jobs, contribute to your economy, and give you a local place to get stuff. They're going to be more expensive. And, do you really NEED 100,000 different items to choose from? Are you buying 100,000 different items?

But, keep repeating what you're saying and one day you'll be right... there will be no more local stores.

Re:Boo hoo

And, do you really NEED 100,000 different items to choose from? Are you buying 100,000 different items?
No, I'm buying 1 item. But I need the correct one item. That's why a large selection is useful.

Re:So is Amazon spyware ?

The difference is that Amazon gives you options. You can turn off most, if not all of the features of Amazon. Amazon is also upfront about the data it collects and even provides handy little links to help items explaining what the data collected is used for. Amazon, to my knowledge, has never installed software on my machine.

Gator and Co use subterfuge and dishonest tactics to get programs installed on your computer. These programs are non-optional, disrupt other work that may be done on the computer, and are very difficult to completely remove.

The comparison is non-sensical.

Re:my amazon horror

You're an idiot for not disputing the charge with your credit card company. You would have had the money back in a day. Unless you charged it to a debit card. Then you are just dumb.

Re:my amazon horror

What's the significance of the person being a "Pakistani"? What point are you trying to make, that a Pakistani screwed you? It's kind of revealing

The point I think you are making is the electronic commerce is not always as flawless it we would like it to be, Confusion exists, and mistakes are made.

Knowing how to deal with errors effectively is now becoming a economic skill (i.e. using the credit card company's services for resolution) much as not spending beyond your budget has been in the past, A kind of an "economic Darwinism" if you like.

I'm not sure what your comment brings to the discussion.

Re:my amazon horror

re: being offtopic.

I mentioned this because it was about amazon and the bugs in their system. The article is about how amazon is keeping track of customers information better, yet they lose track of a $1,500 order. Seems relevant, even if not directly on target- it's more on target than many posts marked informative in other threads.

Re:tomorrow

BookBurro makes it simple and usually gets you a cheaper price as well.

BookBurro is spyware.

Re:my amazon horror

When I placed the new order, the credit card didn't have enough room left since they'd already charged it.


No, you silly bint -- they did not charge you credit card, they asked for and received a pre-authorization -- something that they must do accepting an order. Amazon.com is absolutely 0% (or less) at fault for this and if you, as a consumer, did not understand how credit cards work prior to this purchase, shame on you