Hey guys,
Is Anyone Else Sick of Kindle eBook "Bargains"?
A far majority of these ebooks are just regurgitated blog posts and show information anyone could find with a quick internet search.
If free Kindle ebooks are bargains then so is the Huffington Post or Reddit.
If or one would like to not see these constantly showing up in the deals feed.
Thanks :)
I'd suggest if something doesnt appeal to you, then use your scroll wheel and glance over it! Move on man, cant believe you took the time out to write a post about it. Ugh, now you made me comment on your post too.
Pretty sure I seen one the other day on how to build a bridge
As a happy Kindle owner, I look for them as there can sometimes be real gems in there.
If you want to know why we get this spam just read this.
Probably more interesting than any of the 30 page BOOKLETS we get here
http://okdork.com/2014/05/07/10-marketing-tactics-to-net-410…
For those too lazy to read it all, here is the interesting part
10 Meaty Tactics For Marketing Your Book
1 Feed the Rabid Freebie Hoarders On Giveaway Sites
There’s a ton of sites out there where people basically hang out all day and collect free stuff to occupy space on their hard drive.
Though terrible for humanity, this is awesome for driving downloads…which again is a critical factor in ranking high.
Here are a few popular sites where you can give away your book for free:
Reddit (relevant forums and freebies forums)
BlackHatForum
OzBargain (Use an australian IP address!)
FatWallet
SlickDeals
All it does is encourage these little 30 page booklets.
I am seriously considering writing one about Ozbargain. Just to see how many hits I can get?
With a bit of cutting and pasting from the wiki plus some knowledge about Broden etc, its should get hundreds of hits from Kindle readers… Watch your comments as I might iinclude those as well….
Sorry, I disagree OP.
I've downloaded, to my Cloud Kindle, many great books (not pamphlets, btw) which I read & refer back to often. I applaud the time a person takes to sift through the rubble & produce a page of easily clickable direct links.
Why is it so difficult for the one's who do not need/want something to very simply pass by that particular deal??
The complaints always sound like sour-grapes to me.
Imho.
The complaints always sound like sour-grapes to me.
Actually all they are doing is sounding out people's opinions here.
The opposite could be thought of your post where you aren't interested in someone having a different opinion to you.
that's why there is a forum to discuss
The rest of what you say in your post is a fair opinion, the sour grapes comment just goes too far.
Smulder on 26/02/2015 - 07:39
Block them. Problem Solved.
Tafe 1 hour 17 min ago new
It might just be a discussion, but it's a silly one. The Kindle offers obviously appeal to some members due to the +ve votes they receive. If they don't appeal to others they are free to use forum features that exclude the visibility of certain deals.
This ^
By "sour grapes", I refer to someone who isn't posting many deals who then finds it irks them for another person (who posts lots of deals) to post something they deem "improper". They then carry it one step further & decide to create poll to see if support for their own opinion can be found.
The better action would be to submit their opinion to the mods- if it really bothers them so much.
Imho— and yes, that's all it is. We all get one, right?
First of all I am not a kindle owner, so I might be biased in that regard.
I am saying this because my view might be biased because of that.
I've seen fair bit of kindle deals from past, I usuaully ignore them and/or be jealous about people having that sort of deal on their kindle.
Personally, I have no problems with kindle deals that are legit, i.e. books that are discounted or free books that offer some values. My concerns lie with those dodge kindle books that is trying to sound scientific while it clearly isn't. Even with my rudimentary biology and psychology knowledge (after all I am doing Psychology under Science), some of the books and what they are saying are based on arguments that can either be considered non-scientific or based on flawed arguments based on science.
I don't like name and shame, but one of the arguments I've seen from this is flawed.
Comment from https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/183248, by product rep:
sssboi maybe you have a point. However, this is not the idea of the book cover. There is much more behind the obvious image. Moreover, have you heard of a cyclist from Tour de France to experience any problems at all? Don't think so. Anyways, you are free to explore the book and judge it how you see fit. It is free and I hope you will enjoy it.
This was referring to the comment: "It says riding a bike can do as much damage as sitting in a chair or driving a car, because you're sitting in one position"
This is questionable because while it may seem that sitting in one position is the cause of impotent, it's simple correlation. Causation probably lies within different causes i.e. blood circulation cut for cycling and lack of exercise for most office workers who are not atheletic.
It simply made me feel uncomfortable to see these deals, not because there are no decent deals on kindle, far from it, I am jealous of kindle users. Simply because there are few books that seem biased and seem like they are making a point without valid scientific reasoning while they claim to do so.
So I feel there should be some regulations on kindle deals, probably more than what we have right now. I think kindle deals are harder to regulate than normal deals because it applies to smaller population. So I think instead of using negs and such, letting community to regulate, there should be something more done on kindle deals.
This is my 2c on this kindle deal discussion. Obviously, my point might be wrong. I would be happy to be proven wrong.
It might just be a discussion, but it's a silly one. The Kindle offers obviously appeal to some members due to the +ve votes they receive. If they don't appeal to others they are free to use forum features that exclude the visibility of certain deals.
There are two sorts of posts.
Tightarse and a couple of others round up a collection of free books, listing them with regards to their reviews and that they aren't pamphlets.
Other SEO spam people post individual pamphlet deals.
I am good about the first, unimpressed with the second.
Perhaps we could make a requirement that to post an e-book deal you need to have previously posted a non-ebook deal that made the front page? Or some other hurdle to discourage e-book spam?
Perhaps we could make a requirement that to post an e-book deal you need to have previously posted a non-ebook deal that made the front page? Or some other hurdle to discourage e-book spam?
Yes there needs to be some hurdle to stop the e-book spam.
You have hit the nail on the head. Well done
Rather than the others simply saying there is No issue move on, you have clearly defined the issue and proposed a possible solution.
Maybe now the discussion can revolve around what would be effective hurdles.
Like always some hurdles maybe overcome, but if it reduces the spammers then that will be good.
So now individuals can remove their individual ebook post restrictions and see the legitimate ebooks rather than the 30 page poorly written SEO driven crap, that is just ripped off from internet sites.
I like Tightarse's work - he usually finds a good selection of them and formats his posts well.
They're not as exciting to me nowadays - I built this webdriver script monster recently to take advantage of TA's posts, and then made something further that basically eats all of the free ebooks on Amazon.
Kindle for PC is running via wine, which auto downloads them, then Calibre picks them up into a library.
Currently sitting at near 32,000 ebooks in my collection. :)
+1 for TA
Lol,
I love your script! I'm no where near your level of comprehesion of programming/coding, but I'm sure you & my son would get along ;)
He recently figured the odds for an online game (just one of those mindless things he likes to wind-down with) which pays points for "wins". He figured that if he chose, say "yes" each time, it won 60% of the time. So, he wrote something to play in his absence— he goes out & comes back to a bunch of points…Of course, once he figured it out, the thrill of the site was gone.
I'll have to ask him to look at your work for me- I wouldn't mind a gander through the freebies!
Ta.
Due to an ever increasing number of ebook 'rep' posts of questionable quality, we have indefinitely banned Amazon eBook posts by reps. This subject had actually been discussed since August last year between moderators on and off. Unfortunately posting limits, hiding individual posters, removing posts that contain any duplicate ebooks and similar is no longer an appropriate solution to an ever increasing number of reps joining our site to post their 12 hour free eBooks which aren't well received, as it was back in August until the start of this year.
Unfortunately legitimate authors of eBooks will also be affected by the ban, this was one of the major reasons we did everything we can to 'self moderate' the problem first before throwing in the towel as such, however the number of ebook reps joining the site has increased at a dramatic level in the past 2 or 3 weeks or so and the use of ghost (duplicate) accounts has also started; this situation is no longer manageable. There is also no easy and realistic solution to split product reps into authors and non authors which was also discussed. We will review this ban at a later date.
Thanks all
This is a good solution, except it will now prompt reps to deceitfully post, but that is always and issue.
Are the mods open to requests from 'legitimate' authors seeking to post a freebie?
Like Udemy posts were are confident that any sockpuppeting will be picked up by us quite easily through a number of means.
We don't really want to make exceptions or have to judge who is legitimate or not and such a thing can be hard to verify/define. As a compromise we can look at making a forum thread where reps can post their free eBooks once things die down, we'll discuss this over the coming weeks.
Nice to see you are on top of this.
Agree it's not easy to do. lets see if the abuse stops, and legitimate ebooks can be promoted.
The forum thread is worth trying.
Totally agree with the decision of the moderators on this one. In my opinion, some of the eBook posts by questionable reps were a complete farce, evidenced by extremely poor grammar & spelling. In most cases, said books received very suspicious reviews by the same 2 or 3 people, some to the point of being laughable.
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."
I would like to block all kinds of things and don't seem capable of it, the site doesn't allow it or it's broken.
I've unsubscribed from goddamn food so many times but alas, I still see stupid food stuff
I DO NOT WANT BARGAIN FOOD, THIS IS WHY I'M FAT
I want to see ZERO food on the front page :/ sigh
You can choose to only see deals from certain categories:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/user/74483/edit/deals
General > I want to include deals For Selected Categories > Check all apart from 'Food & Grocery' or whatever you like.
That should stop most of it appearing at least.
I've done that, definitely not stopping all of it unfortunately. Why I do not know.
It will stop anything in the 'food & grocery' category being displayed on your front page, not the 'New Deals' side bar though, maybe that's the issue (I'll ask if that can be added as an option).
If you do see a food deal on the front page then I can only imagine the OP put it in the wrong category, in this case hit report so we can check it out and change category if necessary. I just tested it myself and can't see any food deals on the front page at the moment.
@hamza23: You know what, thank you - I think I had this all wrong, god damnit. I was doing it under "subscriptions" "categories" ….. this should be good, thanks
I for one, love the ebook and udemy posts… i've completed several courses so far, all of which cost be nothing thanks to the person posting the link. Would I have done so without the post … I doubt it as I would never have known a) it existed and b) not had the time and patience looking for it to become free all the time as with the ebooks. So far ive downloaded thousands of ebooks from amazon due to the posts on ozbargin, once again free…and certainly a bargin.
What may be one persons trash is another persons treasure, please don't spoil this great site by hobbling it's content because of the vocal few.
Banning eBooks or Udemy courses all together isn't something that we are/were looking at, it was just about ensuring those that are posted are of an acceptable quality and done in the correct manner. Members who aren't interested in eBooks or Udemy courses at all can easily hide all posts from those domains.
I am one of the offenders (?) as I had posted two ebooks both 18 pages or less to OzB. My aim when writing though is to get rid of as much fluff as possible, so that the reader gets as much value reading these 18 pages as reading something larger. Community, is this the wrong way of thinking? Are eBooks about quantity (of pages)?
NOTE: I am not associated with Amazon Cloud Reader per say, but OzB's algorithm has asked me to check the Associated checkbox.
Looking at your two posts, the first So You Want to Buy a House was well received, but the second Screw Resolutions had little interest as there are so many similar books in that genre. So you can see why the serial spammers are disliked, they keep spamming us with variant pamphlets on the same subjects: Ebola, Growing Fruit Trees, Making Soap, Procrastination, Warren Buffet, ad nauseum.
Banning reps for posting bargains doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And yes - Kindle E-Books offered at any discount rate are bargains. Some less so than others, but they are bargains none-the-less. Authors can sometimes spend years writing a book, making sure it offers great content. And if the authors wish to give those books away for free or with a discount, how can you not call them bargains? Even if the book is absolutely horrible, getting something for free or with a discount is still a bargain. The definition of "bargain" does in no way include the concept that it's supposed to be a "good" product. Not to mention the fact that books are creative works, which means a high level of subjectivity. That alone should be enough to lift this ban.
You can look up any type of deal on the planet and find horrible products being offered. Products most people wouldn't touch even if someone paid them to. Ban them too? Might as-well shut the whole site down.
You do not fight poor quality product spam by shutting down legitimate offers as-well. What you do is impose reasonable limitations and offer proper incentives for promoters to strive for offering great quality.
But this is not even about that. Not to me.
What I find absurd, is that people are annoyed at seeing low quality e-books given away for free or at bargain prices. Really? That's an actual issue?
Here's a tip - don't download/buy something that you do not like. Okay? You are being given information about a bargain - take a moment to think if the product is actually something you want/need and if it meets your personal quality standards. Then make the decision as to whether or not to get it.
You don't get pissed off at the promoter for offering a bargain. Get pissed off at the product and react by not buying/downloading it, writing negative comments on it or offering suggestions to the developers of the site to give more filtering options so you don't see them again. That's it.
This is the Internet. It's not like a website with bargain listings has space or storage problems. There is 0 reason to ban product rep e-book offerings. Simply limit the posting capability of low rated reps or limit their overall visibility or feature list. Ban multiple accounts. And give more options for users to filter bargains.
This is a site that deals in advertisements and bargain listings. The solution CANNOT be a large-scale ban of advertisers/promoters of a specific type of product. That is utterly absurd. That goes against the very nature of the site. A random forum can block advertisers, they are not relevant. A website that acts as a home page for a local retail business can decide to ban random advertisements. But a site that deals in advertisements cannot let themselves be bullied around by a few spammers and react by basically shutting down an entire section of their entire online business.
There are plenty of methods to fight spam. Either directly or through user interface optimizations. Simply banning product reps (including countless legit ones) is the easy, but silly, way out.
What I find absurd, is that people are annoyed at seeing low quality e-books given away for free or at bargain prices. Really? That's an actual issue?
This shows that you don't get it. It's not that the books are free, it's that the same items are posted over and over again.
This is a user oriented site. Sorry, but it's about us, not you guys.
That goes against the very nature of the site.
What would you know about this site? Your only activity here is to spam your crap - according to your location you're not even in Australia. Feel free to leave, we won't miss you.
The definition of "bargain" does in no way include the concept that it's supposed to be a "good" product
So you're saying a piece of turd can be a bargain as long as its free? If so, if I'm ever in your area, I'll happily send you a bargain with free delivery. Quality over quantity imo.
If your book is good enough, a member will post it up. Also this community isn't here to cater to your needs. If you're looking for a pure advertising platform, you're in the wrong place.
I voting with sticking to having REPs banned from posting, especially this one.
I come on OzBargain for bargains. I can't stand eBooks, hate them. Nothing worse than checking OzBargain to find all the latest deals being Free or Cheap eBooks about crap. Ban them indefinitely without another review.
Edit: Add to that Udemy. Clogs the bargain feed right up. Perhaps users should be able to hide deals they are not interested in just like you can hide friends / apps from facebook news feed.
The thing is, there are plenty of people who are happy to look at them and see if anything interests them. I disagree totally that they should be banned, but I see the wisdom in having an option to hide something with keywords in it perhaps.
Perhaps users should be able to hide deals
You can do that currently (hide deals from certain stores or users).
To hide Amazon eBook Deals or Udemy deals go to any of the deal posts for those stores and click the hide button under the deal description. Just click 'Hide deals from store Amazon Cloud Reader' and/or 'Hide deals from store Udemy'
Here's a direct link to a Udemy post & Amazon eBook post.
Let us know if any problems.
should just create a forum for kindle books, if people want them, they can go into that forum
This is really poor and dissapointing. Im sure people running ozbargain are really smart people. Is this the best solution? So people who part of community for years cant share their hard work but anyone is allowed to submit crap deal from their store.
Solutions:
A. Setup separate forum space.
B. People can submit their book to be submitted to other members like tightarse. They review and approve or post it if they think its genuine.
C. Only free books allowed.
Surely, there are lot of options than simply banning.
Block them. Problem Solved.