Discussion of Forum Policy: Special Offers

[ixtab]

Moderator Notice

Following JNT's suggestion, the deleted posts from the announcement thread have been restored and copied to this thread. This thread's original first post is now further down the thread.

The rest of this post is the original announcement, and the posts that follow are the comments on it, now deleted from the original announcement thread.

The Kindle Forum, and the Kindle Developers' Corner, are places where all matters concerning the Kindle E-readers can be freely discussed, including technical modifications to the devices which - in one way or another - add new functionality.

However, topics which are actively undermining Amazon's business model are not condoned and will be moderated. In particular, this includes threads and posts whose sole topic is about removing the Special Offers from Kindle devices without Amazon's consent, or about modifying Kindles to use their 3G network connectivity from other devices (tethering).

In the long run, "playing by the rules" is beneficial to everyone: people can still get discounted readers (and if they don't like the ads, then they just pay a small fee to remove them), and everybody can enjoy free (albeit limited) Internet access. If a significant portion of the people just abused these features, then sooner or later, they would simply disappear - for everyone.

In that spirit: Please do not discuss tethering or Special Offers removal in detail here. In the long run, these topics will not benefit anyone - on the contrary, they will probably harm us, because Amazon will (probably) simply remove those features, and then nobody can enjoy them.

[geekmaster]

Thanks for this sticky thread. Unfortunately, it has become necessary, as evidenced by the latest firmware update for the Paperwhite kindle. Hopefully, this will create a beneficial path for both Amazon and ourselves, in a way that allows us to continue to add value and features to our kindles, that benefit us and other Amazon customers as well.

Originally Posted by ixtab

... If a significant portion of the people just abused these features, then sooner or later, they would simply disappear - for everyone.

For more information about this problem, read about "Tragedy of the Commons" here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

[DuckieTigger]

I fully support this. And I agree that it is sad that MR needs a sticky for it. I have to admit though, that with the arrival of the Paperwhite the ad-free version has a huge benefit over the ad-supported discounted version. The wake up feature for the cover without doing anything else but open the cover and you can continue reading is not really good on the special offer kindle. To fully enjoy this you need the ad-free version. I would never dream about paying Amazon to remove the ads on my Kindle Touch - I never see them. On the other hand when I ordered my Paperwhites, I would never dream about getting the Special Offers version. I gladly paid the $20 extra and have the cover work as advertised.

[aarons510]

Apparently, from other discussions here and elsewhere, Amazon has the capability of limiting the quantity of data transmitted via its 3G connection for each user during each month or, I presume, each week, day, hour or minute. Moreover, they can exclude from such limitations the use of 3G for downloads from Amazon itself and other uses of Amazon's choice. As a user of the Kindle Keyboard 3G, I would much rather have my use limited that way than by having to deal, for example, with a crippled browser that no longer allows me to get bus arrival times from my local transit system because their web site now opens such timetables in a secondary (pop-up?) window rather than in a new one replacing the old.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by aarons510

Apparently, from other discussions here and elsewhere, Amazon has the capability of limiting the quantity of data transmitted via its 3G connection for each user during each month or, I presume, each week, day, hour or minute. Moreover, they can exclude from such limitations the use of 3G for downloads from Amazon itself and other uses of Amazon's choice. As a user of the Kindle Keyboard 3G, I would much rather have my use limited that way than by having to deal, for example, with a crippled browser that no longer allows me to get bus arrival times from my local transit system because their web site now opens such timetables in a secondary (pop-up?) window rather than in a new one replacing the old.

There is a currently active discussion in the Dev Corner about hex-editting a lib file used by the web browser, to open popups in the same window. If you do that, your bus schedules should work:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=201512

There are also older threads that discussed this some time ago. Here are some good details:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=2238081

You really should post in one of those threads. Your post is off-topic in this thread.

[twobob]

I too must - and wish to - support this.

Support.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by twobob

I too must - and wish to - support this.

Support.

Even though you are not wearing a "white hat" in your avatar image? It looks rather on the "dark side" to me.

Here, try this one on for size:

[aarons510]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

You really should post in one of those threads. Your post is off-topic in this thread.

I had thought, apparently mistakenly, that the limitation on opening browser windows had something to do with Amazon's limiting 3G use by the browser. That is why I thought it was a relevant example here. But thanks for the links.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ixtab

In that spirit: Please do not discuss tethering or Special Offers removal in detail here. In the long run, these topics will not benefit anyone - on the contrary, they will probably harm us, because Amazon will (probably) simply remove those features, and then nobody can enjoy them.

Because the information on how to modify Kindles to allow tethering has gotten out and has been in heavy use, Amazon has put a data limit on the 3G (It is unlimited for downloading Kindle books an browsing the Kindle store.). That's a consequence of trying to cheat Amazon.

[ixtab]

Thank you very much for your sharing your insight.

[twobob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Because the information on how to modify Kindles to allow tethering has gotten out and has been in heavy use,

Evidence?

Objection your honor, The witness is speculating.


EDIT: And yes, I burned my 3000th post on this.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by twobob

Evidence?

Objection your honor, The witness is speculating.


EDIT: And yes, I burned my 3000th post on this.

Why else do you think Amazon would have taken away a feature of the Kindle that nobody else has?

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why else do you think Amazon would have taken away a feature of the Kindle that nobody else has?

Luring customers for one thing. Why do you think that even the browser on the PW is labeled experimental when it only works on wifi? This way nobody can complain that the browser disappers from one day to the next.

[Abradoks]

If something can be abused, it will be abused.
This policy only shows your fear of Amazon and intent to use censorship whenever it serves your purpose.
Your efforts to 'make peace' with lab126 obviously failed. They continue to increase obfuscation and fix jailbreak vectors. Which is, by the way, completely expected, as they don't [care] about you, your work or your wishes.
On the other hand, the only attempt to compromise with Big Brother and restriction of discussed topics to what interests you personally is [an insult to] hacker community.

[twobob]

Offering personal opinion as fact. This way always being correct lies.

It's a policy. Live with it.