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Amazon is Stuffing Its Search Results Pages With Ads (recode.net)
If it feels like Amazon's site is increasingly stuffed with ads, that's because it is. And it looks like that's working -- at least for brands that are willing to fork over ad dollars as part of their strategy to sell on Amazon. From a report: Amazon-sponsored product ads have been around since 2012. But lately, as the company has invested in growing its advertising business, they've become more aggressive. See, for example, our search below for "cereal." The first three results, which take up the whole screen above the fold -- everything visible before you scroll -- are sponsored placements that appear as search results: Ads for Kellogg's Special K, Quaker Life and Cap'n Crunch. (It's similarly dramatic on mobile, where it takes up the entire first screen.) This is followed by a section featuring Amazon's own brand, 365 Everyday Value, which was part of its Whole Foods acquisition. Not until scrolling down halfway on the next browser "page" do organic search results -- non-paid, non-Amazon brands -- come up: Post's Honey Bunches of Oats and Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats and Frosted Flakes.
This has been going quite a while now.
But it getting to the point where ublock is having troubles with the page.
The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
There's no hurricane coming where I am.
Lighten up, Francis. It's just a hurricane and the people affected know what to do. The east coast of the United States has been hit by hurricanes for thousands of years and this one is no different; in fact, it's not even the largest to hit in living memory.
you walked into a physical store and bought products off the shelf but now amazon is stuffing ads in your face, literally stuffing ads in your face, and stuffing ads in your shoes and stuffing ads in your turkeys and stuffing ads in your pillows
stuffing ads, stuffing ads, stuffing ads, stuffing ads, stuffing ads
There is a fucking HURRICANE coming, why are we wasting time with this?
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/...
I know better than to take it's suggestion to "next time, just ask Alexa to order x" since whatever I've searched for is frequently topped by some cheap knockoff that's "sponsored". Does anyone who actually uses alexa to order stuff get that or what?
Landfall isn't until Thursday. As long as you ship overnight, you should be fine. I'm ordering plywood for my windows and a couple of board games. Shame on people who didn't prepare for the hurricane by signing up for Prime.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
I've found the quality/ranking of amazon results to be TERRIBLE. I always do a google search when I want to find products on amazon.
I pretty much only click ads for products I only wish I could buy, maybe if I win the lottery. Makes me a little curious what that does to their add algorithms...
Amazon receives 40% of online purchases and Bezos is supposed to be worth $159 billion and earns $275MM per day.
All of that has to come from somewhere, right?
You can't evacuate 30 million people
Nor do you need to. Only the outer islands need to be evacuated.
People living inland, but too close to rivers or creeks need to move to higher ground, but they can still stay local.
Everyone else can shelter in place.
This is being compared to Harvey, which for flooding was a worst case scenario. It stalled over a major city on a plain. The death toll was 82. That is equivalent to a weekend of traffic deaths.
"We" don't all live in the Carolinas, "We" don't all have skin in the game, "We" aren't all affected by it, and "We" don't all give a damn.
It may surprise you to learn this, but the world doesn't stop because there's a storm somewhere.
I've been to the Carolinas, nice place, nice people ... but my life is in no way impacted by this, and I'd rather every news source not be overtaken with breathless drama about things which don't impact me.
Did you run around shrieking like this when Japan was getting hit with a typhoon last week?
there are hardware stores out of plywood and generators and grocery stores out of bottled water and many food items and runs on gas stations, etc.
Obvious solution: Raise prices.
The higher prices will:
1. Ensure the products go to those that need them the most.
2. Penalize hoarding.
3. Eliminate queuing, so people can focus their time on other priorities.
4. Incentivize sellers to expedite new supplies so they can cash in.
5. Incentivize residents to prepare better next time.
Really?
Why is this even news that Amazon wants to sell you stuff?
It's not some secret plot. It's their whole raison d'etre.
If you don't want to buy stuff, don't go there.
Is that hard to understand?
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
Obvious solution: Raise prices.
The term for that is price gouging when it happens around the time of a natural disaster. Some price fluctuation is to be expected but there is a limit to what is appropriate.
The higher prices will: 1. Ensure the products go to those that need them the most.
Ummm... no. It goes to those who can afford them. Not everyone has an equal ability to pay and price gouging during a natural disaster is a dick move.
I tried to buy plywood and supplies on Amazon but I couldnt find any because of all the damn ads!
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Newsflash! Guy who owns website likes making money selling parts of it. News at 11!
uBlock Origin hides the sponsored listings for me, and now that I've told it, will hide the Amazon brands too.
Just great. Fucking ads on a story about ads.
When you search for something so general like cereal then there are going to be a lot of sponsored items to go along with it. All of my searches are for something specific that I know I want and so the sponsored content goes down dramatically. Usually I see the top row of sponsored items and then search results start.
There is a fucking HURRICANE coming, why are we wasting time with this? This storm will be a Cat 5 blasting into the Carolinas with the force of thousands of nuclear bombs. Are there nuclear power plants that need to be secured? Chemical facilities? Low lying areas where people live, barrier islands, etc? Can we get started early on recovery planning, such as food, water, body bags, sanitation, etc? We shouldn't forget about the animals - we have a good amount of warning that we could be using to evacuate animals as well as people. We should take this as a call to action to accelerate global climate change amelioration efforts and a rapid transition to renewable and carbon-neutral energy as it is obvious to everyone that this monster storm is a direct result of global warming and is only the first of several pointed right at the US like bullets in the barrel of a gun. Up until now, much of the damage due to global climate change has been in faraway places like low-lying islands in the Pacific - this is climate change writ large, come home to roost. We all know that the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere probably cannot be removed, but the least we can do is make a serious attempt to cut back on new emissions and we can and do have the technology to do it, we simply need to find the willpower. What we do NOT need is imbeciles like the current occupants of the White House doing things like this to actively make the problem worse but put a few extra pennies in the pockets of their big oil campaign contributors. This hurricane, which promises to be ultra-destructive as it barrels towards landfall and then stalls out over the coast due to changed weather and climate patterns needs to serve as a clarion call to arms for all climate warriors to remove by any and all means necessary, even force, people who are trying to destroy our world and our children's world. The time for action has come, and the time for discussion is over. We have tried reason and it has not worked because they will not listen. Nobody can say we didn't try.
I'm gonna study this paragraph and break out all your points into actionable line items and prepare for its arrival and shit the hurricane's up by Idaho already.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
And then FEMA comes in and blunders around doing random shit trying to look like they're helping while trying to make sure they get as much press coverage as possible.
FEMA is not there to manage the entire recovery process. FEMAs job is to obtain resources (food/water, rescue workers, repair crews, etc), and get those resources to those who need them the most. It is the the job of the local government to know the community and let FEMA know what and where these resources are needed. The governor didn't even know how to contact each mayor, what hospital were open, where shelters were, or even what the heck he was doing; and it showed!
Go back and review the news, the people trying to get news coverage wasn't FEMA, it was the San Juan mayor who cried a swan song all the while in front of one of the few buildings with power/water/food. FEMA had supplies on the docks within a few days, the local government couldn't find trucks or drivers to deliver the goods; not until local truck drivers pounded down the governors door begging for routes. FEMA had rescue workers within hours of the storm passing, the local government didn't even know where to look and where to take people who needed aid. FEMA just finally found 6 trailers they gave to the government full of supplies, still loaded on the private property of a friend of a local official.
You want to know why PR is still in need, look at the government officials that were/are just looking after friends and neighbors instead of the entire community they represent. And yes, this is still going on which is why its still an issue.
... was supposed to have the result of me being presented with ads for items I am interested in. Here it looks as if Amazon is instead trying to trick its customers into buying something that may not represent what the customer is really interested in.
Oh noes, you're being shown ads to buy stuff!
But wait, stupid, you're on a website that sells stuff. Unless you didn't already know what you wanted to buy, how could ads for other probably similar products be a problem?
#DeleteFacebook
brick and mortar stores does the exact same thing. they also have paid product placement and will place their own brands above others on the shelves. Quite a few displays at the front of the stores, at the register, end caps, or in the middle of the aisles are paid product placements whether it is through special discounts or payments. I really see nothing wrong with Amazon doing it other than it can be frustrating at times when looking for something specific and cheaper.
...and vegetarian, non-dairy, gluten-free emergency food.
If it's not vegetarian, non-dairy, gluten-free, pesticide-free, organic, free-range, cruelty-free, carbon-neutral emergency food, you're not a real Californian; you have to get all the feel-good buzzwords in there to get the proper nose-in-the-air sense of moral superiority.
You forgot non-GMO. But I can't figure out how "vegetarian" can possibly be combined with "free-range, cruelty free".
I white list a few places (like here) but, everything else gets run though a VPN, uBlock and Adblock pro. WHAT ads?
You forgot non-GMO. But I can't figure out how "vegetarian" can possibly be combined with "free-range, cruelty free".
Listen up brothers and sisters, come hear my desperate tale.
I speak of our friends of nature trapped in the dirt like a jail.
Vegetables live in oppression, served on our tables each night.
This killing of veggies is madness—I say we take up the fight!
Salads are only for murderers; coleslaw's a facist regime.
Don't think that they don't have feelings, just cause a radish can't scream.
I've heard the screams of the vegetables (scream, scream, scream),
watching their skins being peeled (having their insides revealed),
grated and steamed with no mercy (burning off calories),
how do you think that feels? (Bet it hurts really bad.)
Carrot juice constitutes murder. (And that's a real crime.)
Greenhouses prisons for slaves. (Let my vegetables go!)
It's time to stop all this gardening. (It's dirty as hell.)
Let's call a spade a spade (is a spade is a spade is a spade).
—Arrogant Worms
I never noticed the first page of ads because my blocker eliminates them. I do see the house brand first still, but that doesn't really bother me.
It's called paid product placement. If Pillsbury wants their products at eye level at your local Kroger, they have to pay Kroger "slotting fees" for that prime placement. If they don't pay, their product goes to the very bottom or very top shelf, where it's hard to see and find.
So if you're looking for better prices, look high and low on the grocery store shelves.
Amazon is doing the exact same thing, but with virtual shelf space.
YOU ARE ADVERTISING, MANY MANY TIMES ON SLASHDOT OVER AND OVER, and you don't even have the guts to use your name.
You're an asshole and you should be ashamed.
Let the celery grow where it wants, and don't toture it. Cut it down humanely, with naked singing farmers, and extremely sharp sheers.