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Amazon Goes Wiki

Posted by Zonk on from the no-ruining-this-like-the-last-one dept.

StWaldo writes "Amazon.com has added a 'ProductWiki' to some of their item pages. Wikified items seem to be limited to certain categories, DVDs being one un-wikied realm. Adding Wikiness to the site is just the latest in new participatory activities Amazon has adopted, along with tags and customer discussions." From the article: "So Amazon's gradually allowing you, along with your Wish List, your purchases, your clickstream, and, if you sell anything on Amazon, how good your reputation is--to build up a pretty detailed database of what you like (or don't) and what's important to you. I don't know what Amazon will do with this--fortunately, it seems to have a pretty light touch with how it uses what it knows about you--or what it will allow us to do with all this data. But as it grows, it could become a pretty powerful profile."

6 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Not the first time for Amazon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is not the first time Amazon has experimented with the wiki system. In 2003 they were working on a system called "Review Start". Users were allowed to submit their own review and make additions and edits to the product descriptions. The system was scrapped because Jeff Bezos thought it would hurt search indexing and ultimately Amazon sales. It will be interesting to see how the wiki model works for them.

  2. Re:my amazon horror by mikeboone · · Score: 2, Informative

    Why not dispute the charges with your CC company? That'll get Amazon's attention in a hurry.

  3. Errors with Safari by Athyra · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've been getting errors on Amazon pages as a result of the wiki (Javascript -- Null Value) on Safari with the last two MacOS systems. Amazon hasn't even responded to any of my messages about it, but I've got to say, even if an error is just harmless and can be bypassed by hitting "return," I'm not inclined to browse a site very often if I keep getting error pop-ups any more than if I'm getting ad pop-ups.

    Anyone know if other OS/browser combos are causing problems?

    1. Re:Errors with Safari by Heembo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Safari is just behind the curve in browser support, mixed with a recent surge in use. As a AJAX web developer, that sucks. Take Sarissa - the lightning fast XML Javascript parsing engine. Works "everywhere" except for Safari. Many sights I develop just "looks different" in Safari. The positive side is, my employer bought me my first mac (iMac mini) and it's more responsive than my $2000 uber-dell. As for development, I now "code Javascript" to Safari - and test everywhere else, since Safari is the lowest common denominator.

      --
      Horns are really just a broken halo.
  4. Limited to certain categories, not really by spazoid12 · · Score: 2, Informative

    "Wikified items seem to be limited to certain categories, DVDs being one un-wikied realm."

    Not really. It's scheduled for all categories, but the launch of this feature may temporarily conflict with the launch of others, thus it is dormant in some categories until various experiments settle.

  5. Re:tomorrow by SunPin · · Score: 2, Informative
    BookBurro makes it simple and usually gets you a cheaper price as well.

    BookBurro is spyware.

    --
    Laws are for people with no friends.