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Originally Posted by DNSB
I take it you have never worked in retail? Most retailers of any size have staff in the store whose job is shrinkage prevention. They may be watching cameras, walking the floors, etc. but they are present. You know, the folks who grab you as you walk out the door with your ten-finger discount. Next time you are in a Walmart for instance, take a look at the collection of ceiling mounted cameras, check the people on the floor who are seem to be spending more time watching the shoppers than shopping, etc. Admittedly, they are probably watching the staff more closely than the shoppers -- the majority of shrinkage is due to staff.
I would suspect that Amazon does have people who do the type of work for KU and I suspect many scammers work hard to stay below their horizon. Then of course, we have prawning which has hit quite a few non-scammer authors. See Dangers for Prawny Authors for a bit more information. |
Amazon has a business model that lends itself to being gamed and people have been gaming them for a long, long time. Google has the same basic problem. If you depend on computer algorithms to make decisions, then eventually someone is going to figure out how to game it.
The flip side is that both Google and Amazon have the issue that they are monetizing by showing customers things based on what they were paid to show rather than based on what matches the customers' needs.