

The most hilarious "Amazon shut off our API access" email ever. - talkingtiki
http://jasonbentley.posterous.com/when-your-company-screws-the-pooch-theres-a-r

======
Tichy
Maybe I am not fully awake yet, but where is the joke?

~~~
karzeem
I'm not sure either. Maybe hilarious in its frankness? Maybe the magnitude of
the mistake is hilarious?

Notwithstanding that Collectorz made a bad mistake in basing part of their
service on something Amazon explicitly doesn't allow, I thought it was a
pretty good sorry message. He should have been more apologetic about making
the mistake in the first place, but it's generally a very open and frank
message.

~~~
karlthorssen
Totally disagree. Classic case of oversharing. Even if yer inept, you don't
let your custies know it at this level of detail. There's frank and there's
pathetic sounding.

~~~
pvg
"Yer inept [...] custies"? There's frank, there's pathetic-sounding and
there's turning every day into talk-like-a-pirate day.

~~~
talkingtiki
That's good snark lather, but if you actually look at the collectorz.com
forums, you find that yes, the email WAS as bad as all that:
[http://www.collectorz.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15...](http://www.collectorz.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15897&start=0)

~~~
pvg
Oh I read it in the original post (not sure what gave you the idea I hadn't).
It's does drag on although I don't find it notably horrible - the field is
highly competitive. At the same time, it's hard to take 'right way to talk to
ur customers' [linked post] and 'arr, yer custies' as anything other than
snark fodder, especially given the topic.

------
talkingtiki
"Dear customer:

We've recently been informed by Amazon, our service provider, that our
products may infringe upon certain usage restrictions. As a result, the
product you've purchased may experience decreased functionality. We are
working with Amazon to resolve this issue before this happens.

If you experience any problems or error messages, please do not contact Amazon
or Collectorz.com at this time. We will keep you updated as we learn more.
Follow us on Twitter at [blah] and on Facebook at [blah].

We sincerely apologize for any inconveience.

Sincerely,

Blah."

Done.

~~~
foulmouthboy
Personally, I like more information better. If my app stops working and I get
a relatively terse communication that explicitly tells me not to contact
anybody about problems or error messages then I know for SURE I'm contacting
someone.

I didn't find the first email hilarious, but this one for sure is less than or
equal to that email in its hilarity.

------
thibaut_barrere
This is exactly why I think the quote "I'd Rather Beg Forgiveness Than Ask
Permission" should be carefully avoided when you depend on 3d parties, API,
etc.

I always explicitely ask API/sites (Amazon included) owners whenever I have a
doubt.

What do we have here - Amazon terms:

"The use of a mobile application in conjunction with the Product Advertising
API or the Associates Program without our express prior written approval is
not permitted."

Which leads to this interpretation:

"Here's my understanding of the situation: \- Amazon does not seem to allow
the usage of any Amazon data in mobile applications, any data that was once
downloaded from Amazon."

My interpretation is different: Amazon does not allow the usage of mobile xxx,
_unless express prior written approval_.

So I really think this story tells us something: if you work with someone, get
in touch, ensure the situation is clear, then go on with your project.

~~~
ZachPruckowski
"Beg[ging] Forgiveness" is only better than "Ask[ing] Permission" in one-off
situations, where the consequences are tolerable. It's a terrible fit here for
two (2) reasons:

1) It's not after-the-fact forgiveness you'd be seeking, but forgiveness
"during-the-fact". It's like indulgences - it's hard to make a sincere apology
for a sin you're still committing.

2) The other party has them over a barrel. If Amazon doesn't accept the
apology, it's not a broken friendship - they'll shut off the API and put the
company out of business. It's only a sound strategy to Beg Forgiveness if you
can survive the consequences of a refusal to forgive. Consider copyright
infringement - it's better to get permission up front than trust that it's
fair use or that the owner won't care, because you can't survive the multi-
million dollar lawsuit they can bring.

------
AlwinHoogerdijk
Hi all, this is Alwin, the writer of this "hilarious" email...

I am amazed to find all this about my email :-) I was just being frank and
trying to be clear, upfront, before any possible disabling of our Amazon
access (which has not happened yet).

My customers are used to lengthy, detailed emails. They respect and expect my
honesty, good news or bad news.

I agree that I could (should?) have been more apologetic.

But please note that my iPhone apps are _not_ using the Amazon API at all.
Amazon claims that Amazon data is being used on a mobile device, that is, data
that once has been downloaded from Amazon. Which should be rare, because we
have our own online media databases and our Windows / Mac software only
queries Amazon for barcodes that our not found in our own databases, as a
fallback. The "violation" of the Amazon ToS (if any) is very minor and rare.

But yes, it IS a violation and I will have to deal with the consequences. And
informing my customers was the first thing on my mind. Which I did, fast and
with all details.

------
tdm911
Here's the source of the blog post, from the company forum:

[http://www.collectorz.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15...](http://www.collectorz.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15881)

