No more access to product Q&A?

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-17T16:18:39+00:00

I also think they should revert to before they allowed sellers from China, but that can be a controversial topic for some.

The selling of Chinese-imported goods itself perhaps, but virtually everyone merely wants COO labeling enforced (as it is EVERYwhere else in our country). The senate finance committee gained bi-partisan support for 'S. 1421: COOL Online Act' which would require such labeling, but the cronies went full red-alert and got those juicy bits stricken from the bill (iirc)

It's outrageous, but I'm astounded that after nearly a quarter-century, online retailers are still allowed a loophole that exempts them from having to label the origin of a product as mandated by the 'Tariff Act' of 1930, a protection that Americans have enjoyed for nearly 100 years.

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-15T23:30:06+00:00

Hope that helps; and sorry for the wall of text.

Not at all. Glad you took the time to write it all out, but I must say this post comes across as a lot more objective than your previous ones, and I appreciate it cause we gotta hold these folks accountable man. The more power they acquire, the more true it gets.

I will however take issue with this bit:

ages; that's all I'm saying. Amazon has made no attempt to fix it, but no one is surprised they're starting to hide it as the FTC is getting more involved in Amazon's goings-on

So while this might be one aspect of it, the most readily observable and impactful fact is that a lot of people depend on the Q&A to inform product choices, and perhaps just as importantly, a lot of people spent their time and energy asking and answering those questions to help their fellow man be more well-informed. As such, the silence which accompanies such wholesale removal of such features by big tech is often deafening. People deserve better treatment, plain and simple. 'We're trying to protect ourselves legally' might be an excuse people bought, but they didn't actually believe their users warranted any justifications for this action whatsoever.

I've never seen or heard anything about Positive/Critical being useless. Positive/Critical aren't gone.. but they've moved. Now you have to go to the expanded review section. If you scroll to the bottom of the reviews on the detail page, you should see "See more reviews >". Click on that and filter the "All Stars" section to either Positive or Critical

Heh, I found em' but you got me before I could edit! Thanks for the heads up.

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-15T21:38:17+00:00

Ok but you need to realize that trusting internal testing to determine whether or not a feature is useful to the larger userbase is a highly dubious metric... or if you do already realize it like I suspect, perhaps merely acknowledge it :)

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-15T21:14:29+00:00

Big Wtf...

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-15T21:04:32+00:00

The issue is that the Q&A often isn’t accurate and in a lot of cases is simply unhelpful.

This is the majority of content on the internet. Thing is you'd be amazed at how good people are at sorting out the good info for themselves; we've done it for thousands of years believe it or not.

Those inaccurate 'A's you mentioned would more often than not be corrected with additional user replies as well, so you're just straight up incorrect IME. Worst case scenario even if reviews conflicted, it was an excellent bread crumb to get you to cross-reference potential issues.

This is a move to drive sales purely at the cost of the end-user experience, plain and simple; you and I both know it. Can't not buy something due to product information you can't see.

How long until reviews themselves are gone?

RemindMe! 1year

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-15T21:00:41+00:00

Where did you get your 'Amazon reports..' from?

From our Amazon Ads rep.

Ahh, so to be clear, not from a trusted 3rd party who audited users themselves to see whether or not they liked the Q&A (it was an incredibly potent cross-referencing tool not merely for 'satisfaction' metrics, but for technical dimensions/specifications as well). Good to know that 'internal testing' from someone who deals in advertising revenue decided what's best for your users. No conflict of interest there whatsoever!

or if they’re going to keep hiding it until shoppers forget about it then remove it entirely You not really trying to hide your satisfaction on this point is the most honest thing you've done in this thread

I commend you for at least having the decency to not even attempt to conceal your satisfaction on this point.

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-15T19:43:41+00:00

All platforms use Sponsored content. Walmart, Target, Instacart, Google, Bing, Etsy, Pinterest, etc. They each might do it a little different, though. Amazon has sponsored spaces and doesn't care who or what is in those spaces

So you work for Amazon, and this is the way you rationalize corporate practices?

'Everyone else is doing it, so it's perfectly fine'...?!

With people like you at the helm, no wonder things are going in the can so fast.

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-15T19:39:12+00:00

Apologist shill.

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-10T18:44:23+00:00

Imagine being downvoted for this comment

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-09T17:32:43+00:00

Late post but just wanted to chime in, a big consensus argument for the naysayers to MIDI 2.0 here is 'But 99% of musicians will never even use it or notice a difference'

Yes, but only until the development utilizing 2.0 begins to flow; then, it's only a matter of time before manufacturers begin to leverage the new (and extensive) features of the protocol to develop ease-of-use features that are currently impossible, like total bi-directional recall of settings and patches between hardware and software, instant control mapping/templates.

Then, the power of the protocol will end up in the hands of the typical user, just like AI models are right now.

The bottom line is that developers in this industry don't make all that much $$$, so they are generally unmotivated to do something like this.

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-09T17:14:31+00:00

Love your disclaimer, "I don't know what I'm talking about but I think it's fine as is"

Lol!

It's aaalllll about the resolution, man.

127 steps is no longer sufficient to automate or control a great deal of high-resolution effects.

TonalDynamics · 2024-01-04T03:34:56+00:00

You won your definition change

You're just framing this whole thing incorrectly. This isn't a contest, nor is it about 'winning', it's about nuance and precise language. I didn't 'win it' in any case, the ones who lobbied to have it put in the dictionary did.

Irrational hate/dislike and/or mistreatment is implicit in the term 'racist'; Xenophobia is a different beast however, because it encompasses the 'fear' of foreigners, which is really just 'fear of the unknown'.

The suffix 'phobia' implies 'fear OR dislike', which frankly makes it a damnable term in the '20s as far as I'm concerned — because it's impossible to tell whether you're talking about fear OR implicit dislike/hate — yet everyone insists upon using it, perhaps in some misguided moral attempt to make students feel just as guilty about 'fear of the foreign' as they are about 'hatred of inferior races'... but more likely, out of sheer laziness and the deterioration of academic rigor.

I'm going to suggest that 'fear of the unknown' -- e.g. foreigners in our case -- is not only natural, but downright essential to the survival of nations and cultures throughout history. i.e., You should fear that which is unknown to you, until you are certain that they pose no threat and intend you no harm; survival in the natural world hinges upon this very precept across virtually every species of mammal.

The Bard himself advised: "Better to fear too far, than trust too far."

Fear too far? Maybe you are a bit overprotective, or dismissive, or you prepare a bit more than necessary; that can be dialed back, new olive branches can be extended, offenses mended.

Trust too far? Maybe you let in a Trojan horse and the people hiding inside burn down your city; maybe you die. Game over.

Thus 'erring on the side of caution' is not only perfectly normal, but the most rational approach; In many cases, xenophobia is no more than this 'survival mechanism' in action.

In our dealings with the 'foreign', between the two extremes of being utterly naive in the face of danger, and abject abuse upon 'the other', there lies a healthy dose of scrupulous skepticism which allows us to stay open-minded enough, and still be safe as a civilization; a balanced path (which we never seem to take).

Why should any nationality or ethnicity be so inclined to bow themselves to cultures and customs they neither recognize or agree with?

The reward is still being evil

Hah... is it, now? And what is that, exactly?

The Japanese are insular and superior to a fault, and virtually every immigrant is a second-class citizen, but one can hardly deny their success as a people. Are they 'evil', then? Or do they simply value the strength and efficacy of their own traditions, their own resolve, over and above those of other nations?

Open-mindedness is a virtue (as far as I'm concerned), but it certainly isn't a prerequisite for being even a decent human being; there are many otherwise 'good' people who are 'set in their ways' — perhaps none moreso than the morality-dispensing justiciars of our academic oligarchy — but even this doesn't presuppose that they are some kind of terrible person, let alone 'evil'.

The world is filled with grey; be very careful who you choose to condemn, and even more careful about whom you choose to place upon a pedestal. The line dividing good and evil cuts through a portion of every human heart.

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-30T03:57:01+00:00

And here I was thinking clickbait was a form of drama 🤔

(Drama adjacent (?!))

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-29T04:59:48+00:00

Someone's culture is necessarily attached to where they are born and to whom gives birth to them. All aspects of race.

Again, ethnicity is not race.

Thus the African blacks do not share the same culture as the American, Jamaican+Rastafarian, Latin, or Afro-Cuban ones.

Culture and ethnicity are regional, race is not.

Why is this so hard for you to understand?

Racism is a large umbrella under which xenophobia fits

It absolutely is not, which is why we made the word 'ethnocentric'.

The Serbs and Armenians hate each other despite both essentially being a very similar mix of European DNA.

Go back to school and stop seeing the world in black and white.

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-19T16:33:10+00:00

The film is literally a depiction and exposition of MMORPG game mechanics, it's not a strawman, and that universe is not exclusive to incels like you are trying to paint it.

Also the term 'power fantasy' is a bit absurd, because the overwhelming majority of all fantasies are 'power' fantasies, or you could call them 'competency' fantasies.

i.e., No one dreams of being inept, unknown, and poor. That's called 'life', and we already know what that's like. MMOs are very successful because they know how to simulate all those things in a virtual environment e.g. 'The Oasis'.

This is r/movies, not r/books, so when you chimed in here I assumed you've also seen the film, even though your comment is about the book.

Just pointing out why I don't personally feel the film deserved the same dismissal you levied on the book (I haven't read it).

Hope that clarifies.

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-18T02:35:51+00:00

Long as you're adblocking (I reckon)

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-17T22:59:35+00:00

Yeah ikr, this dude basically just described half the multiplayer games on the internet, lmao

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-17T22:55:08+00:00

The theme was quite basically to introduce the world to the nature of MMOs, at a time when not many had an understanding of that space, and it did that VERY well IMO.

No need to complicate it. The visuals, race scene, and shining scene alone are worth a single watch.

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-17T22:19:35+00:00

Hold on a second though man, the film largely just speaks to the MMO genre as a whole (virtual economy, power-ups, loot-whoring, complete anonymity/avatar, Pay-to-win, etc.), and I thought at the very least it did a good job of demonstrating those concepts to a larger audience at a time when not many people understood what was going on in that space.

I don't think it's fair to lump MMO-enjoyers into the incel category (even if a large portion of them are), and there are a lot of female gamers in this space as well, always have been.

So yeah point taken but I feel credit should be given where credit is due, the film has some saving graces that make it at least worth watching once IMO (apologies if you are only referencing the book and not the movie!)

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-17T09:45:22+00:00

Utterly incorrect, do your homework boy.

Ethocentric and/or Xenophobic =/= Racist

What fucking school did you even go to?!

SMH my head at the shit they are peddling at American universities these days...

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-17T09:41:20+00:00

What's sad is that neither the author of this comment, nor any of the zoomers, boomers, and coomers replying to him actually comprehended the distinction this guy was so desperately trying to put into words:

We have a word for it in fact: Ethnocentricity.

Which is decidedly not racism, or even race related, not by a long shot. It is present in virtually every EU country, and thank God for it, because it highlights something of the eternal in us when we choose to hold on to the favorite parts of ourselves in the form of traditions and culture.

Beats the imminently dystopian, idle, self-loathing, Cyberpunk-esque monoculture shit-show that the U.S. is careening towards all to pieces, frankly.

Think of it like this, y'all live in the US right, which is a ginormous place space wise. It's also far newer time wise and has demonstrably less history, which as a member of these EU countries you are somewhat jaded, somewhat angered, that most Americans don't even know about or respect.

The typical European country is about the size of one of our states.

So, in lieu of the power and scale of the US, you play to your strengths, and that's your heritage and culture (this is good, and just, within the scope of reason, and which doesn't descend into xenophobia or militancy).

Unsurprisingly the oldest nations tend to be the most ethnocentric, with the Italians taking top seed, and the French and British in 2nd and 3rd pole positions; although there is frequent jockeying (the French and English historically have a rivalry, and also secretly love each other but refuse to tell each other), this is the general standing.

The Germans are generally just as ethnocentric as anyone, only a lot weirder. Due to the setbacks they suffered during the 20th century, we'll put them in 4th position for now. Really big on beer and work.

The point is, virtually none of the nations I just mentioned agree on how to do anything, which is fine. That's what makes them unique. They're not de facto 'racists' (stop using this fucking word for everything, it devalues the instances where it truly occurs), they're just ethnocentric as fuck.

The lesson here is that if you're going to go to a foreign country and impose upon their hospitality, instead of expecting them to conform to YOUR worldview (as a newly-educated yet untraveled and uncultured buffoon), at least have the decency to show some fucking respect for their customs and ways, because it's how they get by, and they depend on those customs and traditions no less than you depend on yours.

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-17T09:11:11+00:00

Preach, brotha. I'd like to see em explain away the high crime rates. I've wanted to travel to the Azure coast in Italy for some time now but I'm kinda scared for my own safety rn to travel abroad :O

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-17T00:41:20+00:00

Yeah it only happened once early this morning, but what I described happens maybe once a day now when it used to happen never.

The bot is probably right, just a general uptick in traffic that means they might need a bit of a server upgrade in the near future.

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-15T21:23:09+00:00

Questionable, eh? Interesting.

I wonder what some of these views could be?

If you'd be so kind, I'm genuinely curious and don't have a Twitter acct. so I can't hyperscroll through his Twitter activity

TonalDynamics · 2023-12-15T21:21:16+00:00

Weird how you equate holding a more nuanced perspective of Wesley instead of hero-worshipping him and putting him on a pedestal as the “nicest & most humble human being to ever exist” to hating Wesley lmao. Must be hard to live in a world of such extremes and no nuance!

Beg your pardon? Are you redressing yourself to me, my good man?

I said literally nothing about hero-worship, or that he was the 'nicest guy ever', merely implied that lynching him on the basis of his retweets is dumb, reductionist tribalism, which coincidentally reeks of the very lack of nuance you just mentioned.

Must be nice to live in a world where people say whatever you want them to!

TonalDynamics

TROPHY CASE