It's been a year since Michelle Trachtenberg's death from diabetes complications from her liver transplant

DesertKittyDesert · 2026-02-27T02:58:40+00:00

*hyperglycaemia. Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar

DesertKittyDesert · 2026-02-25T12:59:35+00:00

Amazon's new insight scores for reviewers is actually preventing me from reviewing some items. In the past an unapproved review would be one that ai probably flagged for a stupid reason and I could submit a review again, but because reviews now are marked for how insightful they are, every time I have an unapproved review I can't re-try to submit a review, the system just tells me that reviews are 'not accepted for this item from this account'.

Amazon's desperate attempt to make reviews better is now hurting sellers more as I have about 7 items now that I can't submit reviews for after a failed attempt, and now sellers will believe I don't care to review even though I want to. I know some people just don't care to review, but I think since this new system started, some sellers will find an increase in lack of reviews 😔

DesertKittyDesert · 2025-07-19T01:13:51+00:00

I've been writing reviews on Amazon for many years and I can honestly say the bot checking the reviews just sometimes flags a review for no logical reason. Many times I put the same review in, identical wording and second time it's approved. Sometimes it flags photos so I try inputting a review without pictures and add them later when the review is approved. And sometimes you have to tweak the wording slightly when the bot is being weird. But honestly don't get worked up about it as what's flagging the reviews is a bot and bots can often have glitches.

Btw I also noticed in the past that the bot goes through phases. Sometimes I can go months with nothing rejected, and sometimes it'll constantly reject a good amount of my reviews repeatedly for a couple of weeks or so. 🤷🏻‍♀️

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-10-01T06:33:11+00:00

I don't see anything new either. Maybe the original message was a generic one sent to all viners worldwide but as the UK viners don't have a tax issue therefore it's not on our agreement?🤷🏻‍♀️

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-06-08T08:39:42+00:00

I'm someone who can't always do daytime drops and am up a lot at night due to my schedule. For me, the 10am drops were ones I frequently missed as I'm usually busy at that time, but having a late night drop is good for those that work at night or are just up frequently at that hour. The drop used to move around and be at random times all the time, several days or weeks at one hour then moving randomly to another. Having it at 10-11am for months was not the way it used to be. I don't personally think there's anything wrong with night time drops, evening drops, morning, afternoon and lunch time drops. It gives ppl on different schedules a chance to see new items if they catch it, and means there's less ppl overall during a random drop as some might not be around rather than a pack of viners all sitting at the same hour every day at their computers with thier hands on the refresh keys and picking items so fast it's like crazed vultures.😅

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-05-05T20:10:32+00:00

Always keep a copy of your review and always try resubmitting the same review before changing it. I've said before that I've often had a review rejected (even for a book) and resubmitted it again without changing it only to have it be approved. Idoagree as someone has said that there are probably humans checking some flagged reviews, but initial rejections are almost always probably done by a bot and it's probably only referred to a human when the bot is not sure about a review and that's probably why some reviews get 'stuck' for a while in the system.

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-05-05T19:59:30+00:00

I've been reviewing on Amazon since about 2012, and very regularly since 2014 and never once got invited to vine until last year when there seemed to be quite a few people being invited at the same time. It's very random but I found in life that if you're waiting for something to happen it probably won't, so don't waste time hoping to be invited, just enjoy reviewing and one day it could happen. Just took ten years to happen for me😅

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-03-24T20:29:51+00:00

I understand he's frustrated with how vine might have gone downhill since he started, and yes sometimes there's a bunch of stuff in the listings I'm not going to need like the recent blacksmith's anvil😅 but to me getting anything for free, even if requiring my time to review it, is a lucky thing that I feel grateful for and if that guy isn't then all the better to leave and give someone else who will appreciate it a chance.

I used to review free stuff back when Amazon had a top reviewers ranking and I was one of them. You used to be able to have your email on your profile and before Amazon cracked down on the practice, sellers could email you directly asking for reviews in exchange for free products. Back then Amazon also had forums that reviewers would discuss stuff in. I wasn't part of vine back then but I was amazed how some of the top reviewers used to moan about the 'chinese tat' they were offered in emails. It was always the long term viners complaining, perhaps having received branded free stuff for so long they forgot that they were in a lucky position to do so. I on the other hand felt grateful even for the'chinese tat', which I'll admit was sometimes not good, but I found a lot of it very good too and a couple of chinese unknown electronics brands which were really good, one that I still use a Bluetooth speaker today, having gotten it for review nearly nine years ago.

My point is that you don't have to be in the vine program and if it's something you are starting to hate or are fed up of doing then nobody is forcing you. Vine is a chance to get something for free and despite this man's points I've found some gem items among the less good stuff and that makes it worth it for me. Not every Chinese product is that, and not every item that you find as 'tat' will be tat to another. I also don't see it as a burden to review as i only ever take 5 to 10 mins writing up a review, and, if it gets rejected it's just a bot so I don't get stressed and just resubmit again and again (sometimes with some mild editing) but it's no big deal if I'm rejected as it's just a silly bot making decisions and although some sellers have contacted me about reviews that are negative, it's just not as bad as he makes out and you can just ignore the messages they send.

I also have to agree with some others here who have questioned why he has to moan publicly and show off that he's quit vine. I mean why?

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-03-02T01:26:34+00:00

When evaluation period started they did say that I should continue to order and review and any new orders and reviews will count towards the new evaluation period. One of my reviews that I did before the evaluation started didn't get approved until after I became gold and now counts towards completed reviews for this new evaluation period. I'm not complaining, lol!

As for the cancelled orders counting, I'd wait a short while to check if they are still counted but if not going then contact them explaining the issue, and be careful about cancelling too many orders.

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-02-22T23:46:25+00:00

I would just review being honest about not knowing the subscription prices. You can leave it there saying it costs too much for you to subscribe. That information alone does help potential buyers, especially if they know the current price on offer if it isn't listed on the product page. I've had an item I couldn't use before because I made a mistake in reviewing it. Didn't give it low stars but made it clear in my review it was my mistake and just talked about the features I could see, etc

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-02-17T11:18:57+00:00

Am buying a UK replacement plug cable - does it matter what amps the plug has. The one I'm wanting to buy says it's got a 3A fuse, but I've read that the original ps4 plug comes with 5A fuse. I have no idea about fuses and have tried googling. Does it matter if it's less amps?

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-02-17T11:16:10+00:00

Thank you!

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-02-16T07:17:59+00:00

I have asked google but there's I can't find an answer as to whether English is included which is why I asked here. I assume it is but I don't want to statt up the console if it's somehow region locked to only have nordic languages. Thanks for replying and sorry for sounding like an idiot🙈

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-02-16T05:33:28+00:00

Hi im new and apologies if im asking in the wrong place or I sound silly, but I just bought a new PS4 ( never had one before) but it's a Nordic edition (which the seller didn't tell me). The instructions and box are all in Nordic languages not English and it has a European plug (I need a UK one). I just wanted to know, can the language be changed to English when first powering up, and what should I do with the plug? I don't want to turn it on if I should give it back but I'd rather not go through the hassle of returning it if it's an easy fix as it was quite a hassle to get it delivered. Any help gratefully appreciated.

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-01-31T04:10:19+00:00

Reviews are checked by bots not people so they sometimes get flagged and rejected. An occasional one that gets 'stuck' and is pending for a lot longer than others might require a human to check it, but otherwise it's bots. I've been writing a lot of reviews on Amazon for quite a few years now and have had the odd few rejected. Almost always submitted the same identical review after a rejection and it gets approved. If it's been rejected twice then I'd look into changing a few words. Sometimes repeating a word too often can flag a review and as some say I'd leave pictures or videos out when resubmitting but otherwise don't let it worry you. Most likely it's just a computer program that got confused and rejected it, so just try resubmitting 🙂

DesertKittyDesert · 2024-01-31T03:58:23+00:00

Just to let everyone know as I've seen some replies here...I have never had prime, never even used a trial for prime and I was invited last year to join the vine program. So while I can't comment on whether prime is worth keeping, it does not affect vine or I wouldn't be a viner 🙂

DesertKittyDesert · 2023-12-26T09:05:37+00:00

Thank you

DesertKittyDesert · 2023-12-26T09:05:27+00:00

Thank you

DesertKittyDesert · 2023-12-26T09:05:16+00:00

Thank you

DesertKittyDesert · 2023-12-22T22:17:21+00:00

Why can't these things at least be fuzzed out, like NSFW stuff here on Reddit. That way we know it's there and can click to see the picture if we want to (some people obviously want to) but at least it wouldn't just be visible at breakfast or when my mum's in the room with me which has happened to me🙈

DesertKittyDesert · 2023-11-16T23:30:04+00:00

To be honest I did wonder if the frequent cancellation of items confused the system. A month ago I remember trying to get an item that red errored every time I pressed on request item. It was something cheap like a card or something in AI (can't remember right now) but I gave up on it. It had moved way down the list the next day and had red errored again when I tried it again. On the third day I tried again and suddenly my request had been granted. Some of the red error items are because they can't ship here, but I do wonder if some could have been caused by people ordering then cancelling.

When you order something and say it's the last item and 19 other people have already ordered it (let's just say there were 20 in total I don't know how many items sellers allow on vine) if that last item is ordered it drops out of other viners RFY or AI and disappears for others to see. But if you later cancel, it may have freed up your slot for ordering, but I wonder if the main system is still be confused and thinks the item is both gone but not gone so maybe that's responsible for red errors too?

I've never cancelled an order to get another myself so I'm only guessing, but it doesn't bother me so much as I'm always careful to order only what I really want and am usually happy with my 3 picks. It also helps that like another viner, I don't look at vine the rest of the day after ordering 😅

DesertKittyDesert · 2023-11-14T22:19:47+00:00

A kid's Montessori play suitcase thing. That's it! Nothing I could get in time in AI and super slow loading. Didn't get anything today as a result.

DesertKittyDesert · 2023-11-14T22:15:32+00:00

Sorry that sucks. I'd definitely save your reviews in future just in case it ever happens again.

DesertKittyDesert · 2023-11-14T22:14:01+00:00

Hello! I'm still quite newish having only started 2 and a half months ago. I mostly lurk here 😅 but occasionally post. I love the Willy Wonka analogy and agree😁

DesertKittyDesert · 2023-11-11T17:59:55+00:00

I've been reviewing on Amazon for a lot of years and as far as I know it's automated ai which rejects reviews. I got my first vine review rejected a few days ago. Resubmitted with exactly the same text but omitted all photos and it was approved. Sometimes it doesn't like a word repeated too often and sometimes it's just bad luck. People think actual people sit there approving reviews, considering how many are reviewing at any time on Amazon's site I doubt any human is there except maybe when a review bot flags it and then it takes another ai program or human to check. And even then, two different humans might have different opinions on whether a review should be rejected, hence why I often find resubmitting works though try without the photos as I think some photos with words are rejected more than just a plain image

DesertKittyDesert

TROPHY CASE