# Check your bots, Amazon. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 24, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155 "2009-02-24T03:26:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/21 "2009-02-24T18:29:12Z")
> [@Contrary](#): > > So true. I bought a Dremel. I don’t need another one. So why do I continue to get Amazon recommendations for more Dremels–five \*\*years \*\*later? I have to admit that I’ve bought several Leatherman Multitools over the years. One for me, and the others as gifts. I think that they make wonderful graduation gifts. They say “you’re big enough to play with knives now” and they are very useful. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/22 "2009-02-24T18:29:27Z")
I bought the Solar Home Living Source book from Amazon. It’s all about independent living and getting off the grid. So, since I have an interest in cars (their words not mine) they recommended car detailing products. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/23 "2009-02-24T18:36:44Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I’m aware of that. That doesn’t make the recommendation for _How to be a Super Hot Woman: 339 Tips to Make Every Man Fall in Love with You and Every Woman Envy You_ based on buying anti-leg cramp medicine any less strange. Because there is a correlation in purchase history between those two items. Most likely (I don’t know their exact algorithm) it rarely looks at taxonomy, there are too many items in their catalog. They don’t need to make sense, they just need to be statistically significant. ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/24 "2009-02-24T19:03:53Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > But what it doesn’t do is allow me to tell it that it should never, EVER recommend a Disney Princess item or a Robert Jordan book again. Ever. Not in this lifetime, not in the next, not until the sun grows cold. And it’s not like Amazon is recommending me these items to me because I buy them, it’s doing so because I buy YA fiction (or stuff labeled as YA fiction, anyway) and a lot of SF/fantasy books. I want a button that says “You are totally out of your mind if you think I’m gonna buy this kind of shit” and I want it NOW. Hey, I am with you. The system can crank out some stupid things, such as recommending the paperback release of Zoe’s Tale for me. That would be a great recommendation, except that I already have the hardcover; guess where I purchased it. I am just saying you can work to influence it and get some of the more bizzaro stuff of there. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/25 "2009-02-24T19:45:24Z")
I agree, I wish there was a way to opt out of certain types of recommendations, but not others. It seems to be an all or nothing thing. You can log in and pull down the menu that says “{Your name’s} [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com)” at the top, and pick “Improve your Recommendations.” Then you can at least tell it not to use certain items for recommendations. This may work as a direct link: [Amazon Sign-In](https://www.amazon.com/gp/yourstore/iyr?ie=UTF8&ref_=gno_yspop_iyr) ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/26 "2009-02-24T20:20:32Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > Considering that G-G is also available on the [syndicate’s](http://www.gocomics.com/garfieldminusgarfield) website, I’d agree. > > And unlike the kerfluffles with the Family Circus parodies, [Jim Davis](http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/private/61669516/fSymsOGXOgrmmihjqTZaCBY2) seems to enjoy it as well. (And I’m sure he gets a cut.) That is freaking awesome. I felt guilty enjoying G-G, because I didn’t know if it had Davis’ blessing or not. Now I can enjoy it guilt-free!🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Landshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@Landshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Landshark)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/27 "2009-02-24T21:16:52Z")
I currently have an Amazon recommendation for **The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court** by Jeffrey Toobin, based on my rating of **Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years** by Michael Palin. 😕 What relationship could exist between Monty Python or Michael Palin and the Supreme Court is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/28 "2009-02-24T23:30:02Z")
> [@Landshark](#): > > 😕 What relationship could exist between Monty Python or Michael Palin and the Supreme Court is beyond me. Just to reiterate - the relationship is that people who bought one book bought the other one. That’s all the system really looks at. It doesn’t look at the content of the books (in most cases). ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/29 "2009-02-24T23:44:37Z")
I’ve thought for a while now, that Amazon would do well to approach [Pandora.com](http://Pandora.com) and buy a copy of their music algorithem, to be used to recommend new music. Pandora does it right. Amazon just sucks at it. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/30 "2009-02-25T00:41:08Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Just to reiterate - the relationship is that people who bought one book bought the other one. That’s all the system really looks at. It doesn’t look at the content of the books (in most cases). OK, we get it. We’re still going to make fun of it. Like today when they suggested I needed _US magazine_ because I purchased slippers. And the good lord only knows how many times I have to mark _not interested_ on Jim Cramer’s recent book… ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/31 "2009-02-25T00:58:24Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > I’ve thought for a while now, that Amazon would do well to approach [Pandora.com](http://Pandora.com) and buy a copy of their music algorithem, to be used to recommend new music. > > Pandora does it right. Amazon just sucks at it. Pandora’s algorithm won’t generalize outside of music unless somebody’s willing to spend a lot of money. (And I’m not at all impressed with the recommendations it’s given me in the past.) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/check-your-bots-amazon/487155/32 "2009-02-26T23:17:50Z")
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