Home > Blog > Sep 2008 > Dissed by an Algorithm

Dissed by an Algorithm

Oh yeah, you're a super-clever, behaviourally targeted leading e-commerce website, but basically you're calling me a fat geek. To my face. Nice.

Check out the homepage below, which greeted me when I cruised past the Amazon website the other day. O'Reilly books, donut maker and a chocolate fountain.

amazon.gif

And what's worse is the suggestions are based on a book I bought for the office, and a gift for my sister. Honest.

It's a sad day when you're getting slagged off by an algorithm. Perhaps I do need to get out more. And maybe I should take in a bit more literary culture. Damn it, maybe the targeting is right.

Tagged with:
4 comments
More bloggage:

Comments

Mon, 29/09/2008 - 17:00 — Mat Morrison

You can, of course, tell

You can, of course, tell Amazon to "Fix this" on the recommendations page where it tells you why it's making the recommendation.

 

Of course, if it tells you that it's "Recommended because you ate too many pi-s" there's little you can do. 

 

That gag was probably never funny. It's even less funny now that it's on the page. Ah well. 

Fri, 26/09/2008 - 14:55 — Jon Aizlewood

Hey Sam, If you want my

Hey Sam,

If you want my honest opinion, I think you two should fight. I mean, you can take that algorithm. What's he made of? A few 1's and 0's? Go on, don't stand for that. I've got £10 on you to win in round 1.

Make me rich!

J

Fri, 26/09/2008 - 15:04 — Sam Michel

@Jon Aizlewood - good point,

@Jon Aizlewood - good point, I mean what's the worst it can do? Apart from delete all my digital data, remove any record of my existence. I've seen the films, I know what can happen.

Paranoid, moi? Wink

Fri, 26/09/2008 - 14:45 — Benjamin

Not the old 'office' and

Not the old 'office' and 'present for my sister' line. Common, everyone know that PHP coders eat donuts dipped in chocolate from a chocolate fountain. That page is a badge of pride!

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Each email address will be obfuscated in a human readable fashion or (if JavaScript is enabled) replaced with a spamproof clickable link.

More information about formatting options

Type the characters you see in this picture. (verify using audio)
Type the characters you see in the picture above; if you can't read them, submit the form and a new image will be generated. Not case sensitive.