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Ask HN: Should I keep building my site with all the funny reviews from Amazon?

7 points by gregmuender 12y ago

Today I've been hacking away on fiftyfivegallons.com - A site to collect and display all the funny reviews from Amazon, Yelp, Airbbnb, Apple iTunes, etc. Should I keep building it? If you'd like to submit a funny review, I've got an open Google Doc going: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Mml6GaOHVWJtRHupAw7QVBmsTDl9foUTl_nqsCPRwB8/edit?usp=sharing

gregmuender 12y ago
I'm pulling inspiration from products like "TextsFromLastnight", "Damnyouautocorrect", and even Genious.com (formerly rapgenious.com). Imagine a complete repository of all funny reviews. People could even upvote/downvote, or submit a review with 1 click (if they have a browser extension.)
- walterbell 12y ago
  Are there any copyright issues?
  - gregmuender 12y ago
    Yes, interesting point. I skimmed through this: http://www.writersweekly.com/print/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/007473_07252012.html http://www.writersweekly.com/print/the_latest_from_angelahoy...
    - walterbell 12y ago
      Maybe allow people to re-submit their own reviews to your site? They own the original copyright. In the meantime, you could quote an excerpt and link to the original. Related: TrustYou is doing automated semantic analysis on travel reviews across multiple sites, then syndicating their assessment back to the vendors being reviewed, http://www.trustyou.com/press/travelers-now-read-hotel-reviews-revolutionary-new-way-meta-reviews-summarize-everything-said-hotels http://www.trustyou.com/press/travelers-now-read-hotel-revie...
      - gregmuender 12y ago
        Ya, it seems analogous to TrustYou. In doing further research, it looks like Amazon is granted a right to use the copy as they wish, which could be to let affiliates, resellers, and any other people market the product, IMHO. And isn't driving users to a website to laugh at a review a form of marketing?
        walterbell 12y ago
        Yes, your site could drive traffic to the review sites. Have you seen tvtropes? Amazon used to have an API for reviews, but it was discontinued, http://mkcohen.com/amazon-pulls-the-plug-on-review-data http://mkcohen.com/amazon-pulls-the-plug-on-review-data