Whether or not the date is suitable is an irrelevant and time wasting debate that hides the real issue. What should be discussed instead is if the deceptive mechanisms used by this type of e-commerce should be considered as prowess, as the post mentions, or represents a rather bleak vision of the future of online consumerism. Looking at AliExpress for instance:
- ratings are not reliable: sellers constantly harass buyers to give them the highest rank, or provide extra goods/services or simply proper support in exchange for a better score;
- the products sold there are often the same quality of what ends up in one-dollar-shops, including some blatant clones and counterfeit products disguised by clever wording;
- the dispute system favours heavily the seller by demanding the buyer all sorts of documents and proofs that often takes more time to provide than what the broken/undelivered/unfit product is worth.
A quick search online into consumer forums will reveal to anyone doubting the above the submerged part of this consumerism glorification iceberg.
Bibliotecha is a framework to facilitate the local distribution of digital publications within a small community. It relies on a microcomputer running open-source software to serve books over a local wifi hotspot. Using the browser to connect to the library one can retrieve or donate texts. Bibliotecha proposes an alternative model of distribution of digital texts that allows specific communities to form and share their own collections.
As you will see, I told them, in no uncertain terms, to see Figure one. -- Dave "First Strike" Pare
