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> an Amazon's Choice banner For those who don't know: despite having a name that implies curation, Amazon does not choose "Amazon's Choice" at all. It simply i

by untog 7y ago

> an Amazon's Choice banner For those who don't know: despite having a name that implies curation, Amazon does not choose "Amazon's Choice" at all. It simply indicates which product is most popular, based on reviews that are widely known to be faked. Yet another utterly deceptive dark pattern.

miohtama 7y ago
Is it a machine made choice that yields Amazon most profit? :)
Spooky23 7y ago
It’s absolutely their choice. The fact that they use awful metrics to make curate shitty choices doesn’t change that.
vkou 7y ago
Just because you use a computer algorithm to choose the product that your company recommends does not mean you haven't made a choice.
- untog 7y ago
  Yes, you’ve made a choice: you chose the algorithm. You didn’t choose the product, though.
  - vkou 7y ago
    Having Bill for <some department> choose a product to endorse is also 'choosing an algorithm to choose a product'. Just because your algorithm is a digitally encoded series of steps, as opposed to a a meat-encoded series of steps, doesn't mean you can wash your hands of the responsibility for its outcomes. If an algorithm told me that the best way for me to optimize my tax bill is to commit tax fraud, I'd be just as liable for it, as if I followed the advice of an accountant to do so. I'm responsible for my outputs, not my inputs.
zeroego 7y ago
>based on reviews That's incorrect. "Amazon's Choice" is based on sales. If you search "flash drives" the product that has the Amazon's Choice badge is the product that is bought most often by customers using that search term. It's one of the only organic things on the Amazon platform.
- karlding 7y ago
  There was actually a discussion on HN a couple of months back [0] about what "Amazon's Choice" actually means. The consensus then was that it's not simply based on sales. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20098157 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20098157
  - zeroego 7y ago
    This is very useful to me, thank you for sharing.
- Marsymars 7y ago
  > If you search "flash drives" the product that has the Amazon's Choice badge is the product that is bought most often by customers using that search term. It only vaguely verifies that it's in the same product category though. For the "1tb flash drive" search term, Amazon's Choice includes a 128GB flash drive, a 1TB HDD, a 2TB HDD, and a single 1TB flash drive. It's broken down by price ranges... but it's like going to a car dealership, inquiring about a compact car, and being presented with a skateboard, a road bike, a mountain bike and a car.

by untog 7y ago

miohtama 7y ago

Is it a machine made choice that yields Amazon most profit? :)

Spooky23 7y ago

It’s absolutely their choice. The fact that they use awful metrics to make curate shitty choices doesn’t change that.

vkou 7y ago

Just because you use a computer algorithm to choose the product that your company recommends does not mean you haven't made a choice.

untog 7y ago
Yes, you’ve made a choice: you chose the algorithm. You didn’t choose the product, though.
- vkou 7y ago
  Having Bill for <some department> choose a product to endorse is also 'choosing an algorithm to choose a product'. Just because your algorithm is a digitally encoded series of steps, as opposed to a a meat-encoded series of steps, doesn't mean you can wash your hands of the responsibility for its outcomes. If an algorithm told me that the best way for me to optimize my tax bill is to commit tax fraud, I'd be just as liable for it, as if I followed the advice of an accountant to do so. I'm responsible for my outputs, not my inputs.

zeroego 7y ago

>based on reviews That's incorrect. "Amazon's Choice" is based on sales. If you search "flash drives" the product that has the Amazon's Choice badge is the product that is bought most often by customers using that search term. It's one of the only organic things on the Amazon platform.

karlding 7y ago
There was actually a discussion on HN a couple of months back [0] about what "Amazon's Choice" actually means. The consensus then was that it's not simply based on sales. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20098157 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20098157
- zeroego 7y ago
  This is very useful to me, thank you for sharing.
Marsymars 7y ago
> If you search "flash drives" the product that has the Amazon's Choice badge is the product that is bought most often by customers using that search term. It only vaguely verifies that it's in the same product category though. For the "1tb flash drive" search term, Amazon's Choice includes a 128GB flash drive, a 1TB HDD, a 2TB HDD, and a single 1TB flash drive. It's broken down by price ranges... but it's like going to a car dealership, inquiring about a compact car, and being presented with a skateboard, a road bike, a mountain bike and a car.