[LINK] kindle spammed

[Kim Holburn]

Heh, heh.  You mean crowd-source part of the job publishers do?

On 2011/Jun/18, at 10:15 AM, Tom Koltai wrote:

> ED2K (Emule) already has a built in "trust" factor that categorises
> content on search screens by it's trust colour.
> The colour alters bassed on how long content is in the download
> directory of the recipient after it completes.
> 
> I call this the ED2K Neilsens effect.
> 
> i.e.: if the file is garbage, it is likely to be deleted much quicker
> than if not garbage.
> Multiplied over several thousand hosts, the nanaoseconds of retention
> add up to a crowd sourced approval referencing system 
> that would in my testing appear to work.  
> 
> Possibly Amazon should adapt the XOR bit bucket trust system for Kindle
> content.
> 
> Problems are that the reporting of current content available for upload
> in ED2K is a function of the environment whereas similar reporting on a
> Kindle would be seen as a breach of privacy.
> 
> Ergo, it needs to be developed as a ratings APP. Each book needs to have
> a rating by the reader from 1 - 100.
> Eventually, the spammer ratings would be overwhelmed by the real ones.
> 
> Perhaps every rating could be paid a Kindlecredit Amazon to encourage
> ratings.
> And perhaps, a hundred kindle credits equal a book purchase.
> 
> A self funding, automatic content referencing system.
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: link-bounces at mailman.anu.edu.au 
>> [mailto:link-bounces at mailman.anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of Kim Holburn
>> Sent: Saturday, 18 June 2011 8:41 AM
>> To: Link list
>> Subject: [LINK] kindle spammed
>> 
>> http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2011/06/kindle-e-book-store-sl
>> ammed-by-spam-authors.ars
>>> Kindle e-book store slammed by spam "authors"
>> 
>> 
>>> Amazon's Kindle e-books store has been hit hard by spam in the last 
>>> few months, according to Reuters. Hundreds of entities are pulling 
>>> quasi-useless content found for free or for a small price on the 
>>> Internet, reformatting it into e-books, and selling it under catchy 
>>> titles for very little, clogging Amazon with low-value 
>> materials that 
>>> stand to mire the platform and maybe make customers think 
>> twice about 
>>> future e-book purchases.
>>> 
>>> Many of the books are created with Private Label Rights 
>> (PLR) content, 
>>> which is often milled by content creators on the Internet and then 
>>> made available for free or a low price. PLR content can then be 
>>> reformatted or even modified if the buyer wants, and then 
>> put up for 
>>> sale under virtually anyone's name. PLR content is usually of the 
>>> beginner-how-to or get-rich-quick variety that baits those 
>> looking for 
>>> their elevator to success: make a certain number of dollars 
>> in a much 
>>> smaller number of days, money-making blogging for beginners, how to 
>>> start an Internet marketing business.
>> 
>> http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/16/us-amazon-kindle-spa
> m-idUSTRE75F68620110616
> 
>> Spam clogging Amazon's Kindle self-publishing
>> 
>> (Reuters) - Spam has hit the Kindle, clogging the online bookstore of 
>> the top-selling eReader with material that is far from being book 
>> worthy and threatening to undermine Amazon.com Inc's publishing foray.
>> 
>> Thousands of digital books, called ebooks, are being published through
> 
>> Amazon's self-publishing system each month. Many are not written in 
>> the traditional sense.
>> 
>> Instead, they are built using something known as Private Label Rights,
> 
>> or PLR content, which is information that can be bought very cheaply 
>> online then reformatted into a digital book.
>> 
>> These ebooks are listed for sale -- often at 99 cents -- alongside 
>> more traditional books on Amazon's website, forcing readers to plow 
>> through many more titles to find what they want.
>> 
>> Aspiring spammers can even buy a DVD box set called Autopilot Kindle 
>> Cash that claims to teach people how to publish 10 to 20 new Kindle 
>> books a day without writing a word.
>> 
>> This new phenomenon represents the dark side of an online revolution 
>> that's turning the traditional publishing industry on its head by 
>> giving authors new ways to access readers directly.
> 
> -- 
> Kim Holburn
> The Pinchgut Press
> http://www.pinchgut-press.com.au
> T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
> mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
> skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request 
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> 

-- 
Kim Holburn
The Pinchgut Press
http://www.pinchgut-press.com.au
T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request