Story seems to be a rich target, but I always fail in attempted humor...

Question: How many Microsoft employees does it take to upgrade a light bulb?

Answer: What's a light bulb?

of the worst sort.

Well, actually the story doesn't seem to have a lot of room for Funny. I could mention a recent book, but it's hard to remember the last time a book was of interest on Slashdot. I learned quite a bit about NotPetya there...

But the story came from an anonymous source. Same as FP? Don't care either way.

NAK

Okay, you deserve the funny, but...

Broadish reply, so an entry point for my question about uneven winds: How big before different turbine blades are in zones with different wind speeds or directions and how would that affect power production?

[I often pose questions with the intention of clarifying what to search for, but not so much this time...]

Sorry, I can't remember the details after so many years, and I'm not sure how much they matter. I suspect it was mostly the recommendation engine on the website, but that's a book-specific black hole. Most product categories can't be abused that much. I vaguely remember negative reactions to the kinds of reviews that were being brought to my attention, but that's actually the opposite of a black hole problem. On that side Amazon has (for most products) collected far more reviews than you want to read and the trick (as Amazon sees it) is how to show you the reviews that will most quickly induce you to buy the product--again subject to the hidden constraint of favoring sales that help Amazon more.

However even if I could remember every detail, I shouldn't be blind to changes. It is possible that Amazon could have undergone "moral improvements" since way back then. And I should be keeping my eyes open to see signs of such changes. I think I have and have not seen them.

Hiding personal stupidity is not one of them.

Might be a sour grapes thing. I looked for value in Reddit for a long time. Still see it come up on some search results--but cannot recall a case where any useful information was found on Reddit, no matter what the google "thought" in recommending it.

Worse in Japan, but I don't know which fake/manufactured bands were first.

Maybe I should argue for Elvis Presley? On the grounds that he only sounded...

My second and final Amazon purchase was decades ago. Both purchases were books, but the website smelled of evil. To high heaven, and I decided I wanted no part of it.

Nothing I've learned since then has improved my sentiments towards Amazon and all things Amazon.

Solutions? Can't get there from here. Sad to report that's how it looks to me.

And yet I wonder how bad it has gotten. For example, how good is Amazon at pulling the suckers' triggers? I think the biggest mind trick would be knowing when to show a negative review that will trigger a sale. Much sneakier and more sophisticated that merely putting the most profitable (for Amazon) products higher in the search results.

NAK