Amazon: "Tell the Publisher" request links disappeared

[Alexander Turcic]

A few days ago we celebrated the fact that Amazon would allow us through a simple mouse click to "request" a book to be published in Kindle format. Well, I don't know if this is just a temporary issue, but it seems like the request links have disappeared! Who knows... perhaps publishers got irritated over the vast amount of requests they must have received in the past few days?

[zelda_pinwheel]

that would be ironic... and very very not fairplay of amazon / the publishers. let's hope it's just a temporary disappearence while they buy some extra bandwidth to handle the overwhelming number of requests, which they plan to fulfill within mere weeks...

[daffy4u]

I will be very sad if this is more than a temporary glitch.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I will be very sad if this is more than a temporary glitch.

I don't think it's a glitch. I think Amazon was overwhelmed by requests. I'm beginning to realize that MobileRead is a much larger community than I had thought.

[MoSo]

In one of the Amazon discussion threads, a poster said that he/she called Customer Service and was told it was a glitch and would be back up soon.

Which is good, because I spent about and hour and a half yesterday clicking my way through it....

[nekokami]

A glitch seems more likely to me. Granted a database or web service can be overrun with hits, but at the volumes Amazon operates, I don't think even the entire MobileRead membership working 24x7 clicking links could make a visible blip in Amazon traffic.

[cush]

I just posted a rebuttal to a post on the clunky Amazon Kindle forum that speculated that:

"My guess (also with zero evidence) is that Amazon added this feature to try and collect meaningful data about demand for Kindle books. But then certain people in this forum got together, created wish lists, and had everyone start clicking on everyone else's books, even though they didn't actually personally want to read the books. This irresponsible "ballot stuffing" made the data useless, so Amazon has abandoned it."

Another case of opening mouth (or is it keyboard?) and opining without any evidence. "Irresponsible 'ballot box stuffing' " Bullpucky! Long live the clicky list(s). ¡Arriba los amantes del libros! To the barricades,mes amis! (Apologies to Zelda)

[zelda_pinwheel]

i'd love to read your rebuttal, cush. what did you say ?

[cush]

"With all due respect I disagree that posting wish lists was irresponsible. I know in my case that most of the books I clicked on for others were ones I would have liked to be able to read on Kindle. This is especially true of missing series books and "old friends" I had forgotten about."

Not golden prose (notice the pedantic no-no in the last sentence, ending a sentence with a preposition).

[zelda_pinwheel]

nice rebuttal.

i wouldn't worry about the preposition you ended your sentence with (see what i did there ? ), there are many people around here who would argue that that rule is a relic of latinate constructions and completely irrelevant in english and should be abandoned.

[daffy4u]

Yeah, it looks like a case where an actual Amazon employee posted that it was a glitch (click on their name and a bubble pops up with their info).

The Amazon Kindle team says:

We experienced a slight technical problem with this feature. We are working on the problem and expect to have the feature back live within the next 24 hours.

The Amazon Kindle Team

[MonkeyKnits57]

I just went to Amazon.com and the link is there for a book that was on my recommended list. It must have been a glitch that it was not available for a while. I'm so glad it has not been permanently removed. A lot of books I want are not yet available in ebook format so I will be clicking that link a LOT.

[daffy4u]

Confirmed, the link is back! Yay!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cush

I just posted a rebuttal to a post on the clunky Amazon Kindle forum that speculated that:

"My guess (also with zero evidence) is that Amazon added this feature to try and collect meaningful data about demand for Kindle books. But then certain people in this forum got together, created wish lists, and had everyone start clicking on everyone else's books, even though they didn't actually personally want to read the books. This irresponsible "ballot stuffing" made the data useless, so Amazon has abandoned it."

Another case of opening mouth (or is it keyboard?) and opining without any evidence. "Irresponsible 'ballot box stuffing' " Bullpucky! Long live the clicky list(s). ¡Arriba los amantes del libros! To the barricades,mes amis! (Apologies to Zelda)

I think the person who made the comment you quoted does have a valid point, if his speculation is accurate. It doesn't really provide much meaningful data on which books are most wanted as eBooks if people are "stuffing the ballot box", so to speak.

Do you know whether or not this is occurring?

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think the person who made the comment you quoted does have a valid point, if his speculation is accurate. It doesn't really provide much meaningful data on which books are most wanted as eBooks if people are "stuffing the ballot box", so to speak.

Do you know whether or not this is occurring?

I'm stuffing it. To quote myself:

I don't have a problem with it and my conscience is clear. I doubt Amazon or Sony have problems with anything that puts more money in their pockets (same with the publishers).

I'm purchasing ebooks that I never would have bought in paper. My horizons have been broadened. It is more likely that I will read it if it is in eBook form.

I think it's unrealistic to think that Amazon doesn't know this is happening. They probably like it. It gives them a bigger stick to wave at the publishers. If they have a concern they'll set up the link to work in such a way that "stuffing" won't work.