Amazon and Facebook

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Amazon and Facebook Reportedly Had a Secret Data-Sharing Agreement, and It Explains So Much

Back in 2015, a woman named Imy Santiago wrote an Amazon review of a novel that she had read and liked. Amazon immediately took the review down and told Santiago she had “violated its policies.” Santiago re-read her review, didn’t see anything objectionable about it, so she tried to post it again. “You’re not eligible to review this product,” an Amazon prompt informed her.

When she wrote to Amazon about it, the company told her that her “account activity indicates you know the author personally.” Santiago did not know the author, so she wrote an angry email to Amazon and blogged about Amazon’s “big brother” surveillance.

This reinforces that years ago when I read Facebooks TOS and decided it was not for me that was the right choice.

bernie

And it went well beyond just Amazon, too

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/t...?module=inline

[BookCat]

This reminds me of when I wrote an Amazon review of a spice mix, just innocently saying that it was versatile, could be put into hot chocolate on cold evenings, or into tea to imitate chai. The review was taken down for the same reasons given above - violating TOS, but it didn't.

I tried posting the review again, but was immediately told that I wasn't allowed to review the product. I didn't pursue it.

Very odd.

Tea IS chai, chai IS tea - hard to put tea into tea to imitate tea.

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

Tea IS chai, chai IS tea - hard to put tea into tea to imitate tea.

I thought chai was a strong spicey tea, as opposed to the English Breakfast variety?

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I thought chai was a strong spicey tea, as opposed to the English Breakfast variety?

Spicy Chai, Masala Chai are typical names for Chai with spices added.

Originally Posted by BookCat

I thought chai was a strong spicey tea, as opposed to the English Breakfast variety?

"Chai" literally means "tea" in Hindi, with cognates in other North Indian languages. The British introduced tea to India, and the spicy, milky drink so often called "chai" is "chai masala" in Hindi, "masala" referring to the mix of spices the Indians put into the industrial quality reject tea they were encouraged to drink in a campaign to drive up local consumption. So it would be nearer the mark to describe the sort of drinks sold as "chai" as "masala", since it's the idea of a mix of spices they have in common, not necessarily having any connection with tea, as in the extract of the Camellia Sinensis leaves.

Interestingly (to language nerds anyway) the the words "chai" and "tea" both come from the same Chinese character for the Camellia Sinensis. One spread to South Asian languages via Cantonese, the other spread to various European languages via Mandarin.

[AnotherCat]

The Mandarin for tea anglicized as Char (or Cha, Chah) is in very common use in New Zealand and Australia (and the UK too, I think, BookCat???). I have never heard it used in the USA???

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

The Mandarin for tea anglicized as Char (or Cha, Chah) is in very common use in New Zealand and Australia (and the UK too, I think, BookCat???). I have never heard it used in the USA???

"Char" in Panjabi is "four", "Chah" is "tea" - VERY good pronunciation practice for those like me whose L1 is extremely non-rhotic. Get them muddled and one could end drinking A LOT of tea!

[Apache]

Green Tea in Japan is Ocha.
Apache

[Ken Maltby]

I could go for a good Orange Peko/ Black Tea blend in a K-Cup.

Interesting that Amazon's and Facebook's response to content they don't like (not that which presents a threat) is to sensor the content. They could have made it so that they can add disclaimers, such as describing the poster's alleged relationship with the product's producers. Of course they might then have to backup their claims.

Luck;
Ken

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Interesting that Amazon's and Facebook's response to content they don't like (not that which presents a threat) is to sensor the content. They could have made it so that they can add disclaimers, such as describing the poster's alleged relationship with the product's producers. Of course they might then have to backup their claims.

Censorship just seems the easiest route for them. Yeah, they could flag and add disclaimers, but who needs the tsuris?

[BookCat]

I think the type of tea I meant was masala chai. I've seen it made in youtube vids, but it looks like lots of bother. Just adding the mentioned spice mix to strong, milky tea seems to have a similar effect because the mix contains many of the same spices.

Char used to be commonly used in the UK for tea: "fancy a cuppa char?" especially by northern working class people. I think the term is far less used now.

Amazon's quickly flashed up comment when I tried to re-write the review suggested they thought I had a connection to the company. I don't.

I've seen powdered chai on sale on Amazon but none of it is decaffeinated!

Originally Posted by BookCat

I think the type of tea I meant was masala chai. I've seen it made in youtube vids, but it looks like lots of bother. Just adding the mentioned spice mix to strong, milky tea seems to have a similar effect because the mix contains many of the same spices.

I grew up assuming tea had a long history in India, was surprised when I learned they only started drinking it around the turn of the 20th century when the British were trying to drive up domestic consumption. The real boost came in the 1950s when Nehru urged greater consumption to help the local industry, but the tea was low grade stuff, mechanically ripped from the bushes and apparently vile to drink - hence the masala additions, simply to make it palatable

[Nate the great]

What does this language nerdistry have to do with the price of tea in China? (I couldn't help myself, sorry)