Replies

clive, 10 months ago to random

Amazon is crawling with travel guides written by AI -- vague, crappy, and pushed up in search results by astroturfed fake five-star reviews: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/travel/amazon-guidebooks-artificial-intelligence.html?unlocked_article_code=Gmcb6fkRXSAX7JUdbTpFyhH1lSBWBcI0RuiXgcku3gVTdQV7s_SPvl1tKw76F_txTehAmHdU0bZ3PUoPyH0h-dybeb8_bGL7UzysZynt-SFcx9yByC4wr37_65cVodjr_Z-sRcqUfioeOsUAKJpEECejhG2SlL4jPCoaBG8PFnu_YLKDXA0hkzvhrJnGuD5kw59N8Bz7T7D7UOeJXLkowJnnoB6IDt6bHn6XiBvlH--t6M_9xmGCkNlYdtiiScdbS3ebGG5C3xKkCxwacaT96yLi9NK5dx9YHwhHSPdoVJPqslvVGAwQFvpSQvDvgHZGOFxW09EeUVAHYZl6uI-aSYS0_UfYhcXjDi6J2-M1oFlpWg&smid=url-share

That's a "gift" link so you don't need to be a New York Times subscriber to read it

It's a great investigation, and highlights the real problem, which is ...

... unsurprisingly by now, Amazon seemingly does little-to-nothing to stop this

The site is just soiled top to bottom with fake crap in every category

CandaceRobbAuthor, 10 months ago

@clive Why anyone uses them for books where there are so many independents online, and bookshop.org, I don't understand.

CandaceRobbAuthor, 10 months ago

@ClaireFromClare @clive @bookstodon I've heard that hive is great in the UK. Here in the US I have found bookshop.org to be about the best, and we can specify what independent we want to receive 20% so I move around some wonderful locals like Third Place Books, University Bookstore, Queen Anne Books, Edmonds Bookhop.

CandaceRobbAuthor, 10 months ago to bookstodon

Currently reading Donna Leon's So Shall You Reap, Commissario Brunetti #32. Over the years, one of my favorite characters is his wife Paolo. She is utterly cool. @bookstodon #reading #mysteries

CandaceRobbAuthor, 10 months ago

@arratoon @bookstodon Years ago, yes.

CandaceRobbAuthor, 10 months ago

@agt @lunalein @bookstodon Rebecca Solnit nails it again. I remember reading this essay for the first time and feeling such a sense of being seen and heard. She does this for me over and over.

Sinistar7510, 11 months ago to gardening

@gardening
#gardening
#garden

CandaceRobbAuthor, 11 months ago

@Sinistar7510 @gardening So true! (But I still grieve for the plants I nurtured and lost.)

CandaceRobbAuthor, 11 months ago to bookstodon

Lovely post this morning--copies of the hardcover and trade paperback Hungarian editions of The Apothecary Rose--Owen Archer 1! #books #mysteries #historicalmysteries
@bookstodon @writingcommunity

CandaceRobbAuthor, 11 months ago

@xgebi @bookstodon @writingcommunity Goodness, you're right. No wonder I couldn't find a Hungarian contract--it's Croatia! Thank you!