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Writer's Haven => Quill and Feather Pub [Public] => Topic started by: A. N. Onymous on September 20, 2018, 03:28:56 PM

Title: Lost Reviews...ish.
Post by: A. N. Onymous on September 20, 2018, 03:28:56 PM
Checking into Author central yesterday and I found that my few reviews have disappeared! My reviews remain with their respective books at their sale sites, so no need for panic, but still. I contacted them and they acknowledge a problem. They say it will take a couple of days to sort the problem. Anyone else with this problem?
Title: Re: Lost Reviews...ish.
Post by: Mark Gardner on September 20, 2018, 03:30:44 PM
Checking into Author central yesterday and I found that my few reviews have disappeared! My reviews remain with their respective books at their sale sites, so no need for panic, but still. I contacted them and they acknowledge a problem. They say it will take a couple of days to sort the problem. Anyone else with this problem?
amazon are always getting jiggity with reviews.
Title: Re: Lost Reviews...ish.
Post by: W.R. Gingell on September 20, 2018, 05:35:17 PM
Author Central has been having issues for the last week or two--they've had banner warnings in my dashboard there for at least a week now, two different ones. I reckon give it a bit of time and they'll have it cleared up. Sounds like they're still running into server troubles of one kind or another (or they're testing something :icon_think:).

Time will tell :icon_rolleyes:
Title: Re: Lost Reviews...ish.
Post by: LilyBLily on September 21, 2018, 01:54:43 AM
Saw the banner warning, but the reviews (at least the number of them) are still listed on my Author Central page and on my Amazon author page. Ever since I realized that gaining a certain number of reviews in order to "qualify" to buy an ad was pointless--since the ads never earned out--I've not cared very much about the reviews except to have a decent number for social proof.
Title: Re: Lost Reviews...ish.
Post by: A. N. Onymous on September 24, 2018, 07:28:12 AM
Update...
Reviews back. All's good.
Title: Re: Lost Reviews...ish.
Post by: Jeff Tanyard on September 24, 2018, 07:37:53 PM
Sounds like they're still running into server troubles of one kind or another


I've been thinking the same thing for months.  I think their servers are running on thin margins, and it doesn't take much to make them start having rolling blackouts (or whatever the information equivalent of a rolling blackout is).

You'd think they'd have plenty of capacity, but I'll bet they're monetizing as much of it as they can via AWS and leaving the bandwidth scraps for the e-commerce store.

Just a theory.  *shrug*
Title: Re: Lost Reviews...ish.
Post by: TimothyEllis on September 24, 2018, 08:13:56 PM
You'd think they'd have plenty of capacity, but I'll bet they're monetizing as much of it as they can via AWS and leaving the bandwidth scraps for the e-commerce store.

I think its been that way for a long time.

I think they roll the blackouts through the store. There are days when you take a sudden drop in sales and reads, almost as if your book(s) were not there. Maybe only for a few hours, but enough to make a difference. And this has been going on for years.
Title: Re: Lost Reviews...ish.
Post by: Jeff Tanyard on September 24, 2018, 08:19:11 PM
I first started getting suspicious a few months ago when also-boughts got sort of intermittent.  Then the Prime Day in July crashed and burned.  And all the other little things add up.  Makes one wonder just how dedicated Amazon is to its e-commerce business for the long term.
Title: Re: Lost Reviews...ish.
Post by: TimothyEllis on September 24, 2018, 08:29:51 PM
I first started getting suspicious a few months ago when also-boughts got sort of intermittent.  Then the Prime Day in July crashed and burned.  And all the other little things add up.  Makes one wonder just how dedicated Amazon is to its e-commerce business for the long term.

I wonder if the people at the top think they can run an ad system without any eCommerce to advertise.