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Amazon restored the account! Thank you all SO MUCH for your help.
I am pretty sure that this saga, which lasted over a month, was due to Amazon turning over its book review process to AI. We were never able to speak to a human being from that department, and customer service told us that it doesn't have a phone number and it's impossible for them to contact anyone in it!
All the contact we had with the department banning first the book (the fifth in a series they published with no issues, I might add) and finally our entire account consisted of absolutely nonsensical emails that made no reference to anything we'd said or any of the documentation we sent them, ignored direct questions and requests like "Please tell us exactly what proof you'll accept so we can provide it to you," and sometimes included literal gibberish like "If you can attach IDs where we can confirm those signs as valid, please reply."
We have no idea what did the trick. Was it the social media campaign? Did one of our emails finally catch the attention of a human? Did an AI just decide we were okay now?
So if you're an author publishing on Amazon, uh, watch out. Also, when we used to worry about AIs taking over, we thought of stuff like Skynet nuking the world. Did any science fiction writer predict that AIs would destroy us by canceling our livelihoods and sending maddening emails?
I am pretty sure that this saga, which lasted over a month, was due to Amazon turning over its book review process to AI. We were never able to speak to a human being from that department, and customer service told us that it doesn't have a phone number and it's impossible for them to contact anyone in it!
All the contact we had with the department banning first the book (the fifth in a series they published with no issues, I might add) and finally our entire account consisted of absolutely nonsensical emails that made no reference to anything we'd said or any of the documentation we sent them, ignored direct questions and requests like "Please tell us exactly what proof you'll accept so we can provide it to you," and sometimes included literal gibberish like "If you can attach IDs where we can confirm those signs as valid, please reply."
We have no idea what did the trick. Was it the social media campaign? Did one of our emails finally catch the attention of a human? Did an AI just decide we were okay now?
So if you're an author publishing on Amazon, uh, watch out. Also, when we used to worry about AIs taking over, we thought of stuff like Skynet nuking the world. Did any science fiction writer predict that AIs would destroy us by canceling our livelihoods and sending maddening emails?
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I've had difficulties with KDP lately too, and I wonder whether they really have turned book review over to an AI. Ugh.
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I'm glad to hear that it is possible to get some result out of them!
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I'm very glad that things got resolved. I hope they stay resolved. I also hope Amazon fixes its shit, though I suspect that's not likely. :/
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Yay!
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> Did any science fiction writer predict that AIs would destroy us by canceling our livelihoods and sending maddening emails?
I'll be curious if anyone provides any examples.
I'm reminded of the movie Brazil, where bureaucracy runs amok with disastrous consequences. Computerization, including AI, can make that happen faster.
Also reminded of smart contracts atop the blockchain: If something goes wrong and the blockchain has the final word, there is no recourse, such as in the court system.
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I guess the assumption that they'd only replace humans once computers can actually accomplish a task somewhat was overly optimistic.
Reminds me of the AI "delivery robot" that Amazon trialed, that moved at slower than walking speed and couldn't really cope with using the sidewalk and had to be rescued by people all the time because it got stuck. I think they abandoned that concept for now, so hopefully the AI content review meets the same fate.
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Uh, on the bright side of all the AI stuff, I guess we have the makings of a pretty good apocalyptic SF film that we could make on a low budget. Maybe?
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If not, I think you have first claim on that one!
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>by canceling our livelihoods and sending maddening emails?
Yes, more or less. Gordon Dickson wrote "Computers Don't Argue" in 1965.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computers_Don%27t_Argue
ETA: Also, I'm very glad you got your account back!
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And maddening pro-NFT tweets! (The automation behind that is laughable. I kept getting likes on my 'NFTs are scams btw' tweets from pro NFT people)
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I think in the future rich people will pay a premium to interact with real people. The rest of us plebs will be yelling at an electronic wall.
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Umberto Eco did in his essay "How to Travel with a Salmon."
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So, yeah, I hear you.
Glad Zoe is back!
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Maybe this is like the AI in the Zelazny story my Eor was just telling me about: It's just sadistic and loves to torture humans. Most of them manage to get away from it via suicide, but it keeps the last man alive and frustrates all his attempts, just so it can torture him.
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