Recommend Firefly

POSTED BY: rklenseth
UPDATED: Thursday, March 25, 2004 05:34
VIEWED: 15652
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CUDA

Monday, March 8, 2004 6:06 AM

Quote:

Yeah, same thing happened when my friend and I tried to recommend under "The Critic: the complete series", never showed up.
How then, does "The Zone" and "Assholes guide to chicks" get recommended instead of Firefly? Doesn't make sense to me.

Well, in the same recommendations section you can also indicate that a particular recommendation is inappropriate, which I did for "Assholes Guide", but with the same non-result.

For what it's worth, I emailed Amazon asking about the workings of their 'recommendations' feature, and mentioned how it seems to lack any real results. Something seems a bit funky.

I find it hard to believe that our recommendations are getting censored, Firefly recommendations are showing up under other titles, but not in the numbers I would expect.

Also if Amazon were to deem any Firefly recommendations inappropriate, I would think it would be those under 'Friends', but they're still there!

If others wanted to harass Amazon about this issue, it wouldn't hurt!

SHINY

Monday, March 8, 2004 2:25 PM

Well, I think we're more likely to succeed by just keeping at it; I imagine if something like that "A$$hole's guide" gets through their recommendation screening guide, then certainly Firefly should be able to if enough of us recommend it...

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

SHINY

Monday, March 8, 2004 6:55 PM

We only have 8 more recommendations for Firefly to be the top most recommended for The Lord of The Rings! Add your recommendation now!:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009TB5G/ref=pd_ts_d_1
1/102-6665341-7589714?v=glance&s=dvd&n=404276

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

CUDA

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 12:35 AM

Ok, here's the email I got from Amazon after my inquiry:

Quote:

The "Our Customers' Advice" feature was implemented as a way for
customers to make recommendations on items that they believe would be
of interest to other customers. Unfortunately, when the feature was
originally introduced to our web site, we saw numerous
recommendations being made by commercial interests, rather than
customers.

As that was the case, we have instituted some measures to ensure that
commercial interests are mitigated. The program does have set
parameters and, when we find that one item is receiving more
recommendations than is statistically appropriate, we take the
necessary action. Unfortunately, there will be occasional instances
where valid customer recommendations will be removed because they
fall outside of these parameters, as may have happened in your case.
Our records show that you have reccommended "Firefly - The Complete
Series" on at least 16 different items.

What I can suggest is not limiting your advice to one particular
item, and making fewer recommendations for any given item. This will
help deter the removal of your recommendations. I apologize if this
causes you any inconvenience.

Well their count is a bit low, I've done well over 16 recommendations.

SHINY

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 12:43 AM

Thanks Cuda, that's very informative. That means it's probably not in our best interests to recommend Firefly under as many other popular movies as we can, but to rather pick only a few top movies that we each try to recommend under. If we each only make a few recommendations, hopefully they will not be filtered out.

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

NOOCYTE

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 1:19 AM

OOPS!

I reckon that means I'll have a refusal email in my future; I just spent the last half-hour cut-and-pasting the Firefly product number in various places (dozens, I'm sure)!

BTW, in addition to all the other fine ideas here, I had a thought (and made it a reality) to plow through the Westerns (or "Oaters," for those in the know), since the affinities are so strong.

Keep flyin' (that'd be my recommendation)

Department of Redundancy Department

CUDA

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 6:00 AM

Don't let the Amazon censors get you down! Those of you who haven't done any Firefly recommendations can still help!!!

And those that have recommended allready, keep up the good work!

NOOCYTE

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 6:27 AM

Actually, I think that Amazon's policy should give us pause. It is a sound policy when you think of it, as it keeps studio spammers from boosting their products with what essentially amounts to free advertising.

Which, if we're to be wholly honest with ourseves, is what we are doing (albeit with the best of intentions and for the best of causes!).

Now I for one have no problem with deploying some of the free energy which fux so spectacularly failed to channel (no pun intended) in the service of promoting Firefly. I quite like the recommendation campaign, and intend to continue.

But we do apparently need to stay under the radar with this one (as any good Browncoat is well-advised to do!). The last thing we need is to slip over the line from "passionate, devoted, and energetic" to "rabidly evangelical" fans in the public perception, as the latter could very easily boomerang against Firefly. More pragmatically, I would hate to see Amazon tighten up the reins against recs for Firefly, and so lose us this venue.

Best to keep a slow, steady trickle of recommendations, well-targeted for maximum visibility and probability of sucessful crossover, rather than the carpet-bombing campaign which my initial enthusiasm led me to deploy.

At least, that's how I'm going to play it. Y'all make your own calls, of course.

Keep flyin'!

"The intelligent man always fights for the lost cause, realizing that all others are just effects"

-Ralph Waldo Emerson/Johnny Fever

CUDA

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 3:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Noocyte:

But we do apparently need to stay under the radar with this one (as any good Browncoat is well-advised to do!). The last thing we need is to slip over the line from "passionate, devoted, and energetic" to "rabidly evangelical" fans in the public perception, as the latter could very easily boomerang against Firefly. More pragmatically, I would hate to see Amazon tighten up the reins against recs for Firefly, and so lose us this venue.

Best to keep a slow, steady trickle of recommendations, well-targeted for maximum visibility and probability of sucessful crossover, rather than the carpet-bombing campaign which my initial enthusiasm led me to deploy.

Agreed, though I still believe that it is no problem for those who have not posted any Amazon recommendations, to do so.

SHINY

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 6:03 PM

Well as of 3/9/04, here is the status of our 'Recommend Firefly' campaign; we're doing quite well! If you haven't yet recommended Firefly on amazon, you should choose just a couple of the titles in the 'not yet top recommendation' list below (if you recommend Firefly for too many different DVDs, apparently the system automatically deletes your recommendations as 'spam'):

Firefly is the most recommended DVD for all of the following top-25 best selling DVDs on Amazon:

2. Chappelle's Show (4 recommendations)
3. Lost In Translation (6 recommendations)
5. Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl (12 recommendations)
6. Stargate SG-1 Season 6 (16 recommendations)
7. School of Rock (5 recommendations)
10. Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete First Season (2 recommendations)
13. The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition) (18 recommendations)
17. Concert for George (2 recommendations)
18. Sex and the City - The Complete First Season (2 recommendations)
21. Swimming Pool (Unrated Version) (2 recommendations)

Firefly is not the top recommendation for:

1. Schindler's List (Widescreen Edition) (needs 1 more to be top recommendation)
4. Futurama, Vol. 3 (needs 1 more to be top recommendation)
9. Mona Lisa Smile (needs 1 more to be top recommendation)
16. Sex and the City - The Complete Fifth Season (needs 1 more to be top recommendation)
20. The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition) (needs 12 more to be top recommendation)
22. Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (needs 2 more to be top recommendation)
24. Schindler's List (Full Screen Edition) (needs 1 more to be top recommendation)

These DVDs are not yet taking recommendations:
8. Something's Gotta Give
11. Finding Nemo
12. Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World
14. The Matrix Revolutions
15. Friends - The Complete Seventh Season
19. 21 Grams
23. Kill Bill
25. The Last Samurai (Widescreen Edition)

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

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