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posted by martyb on Wednesday February 06 2019, @07:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the you-get-what-you-give dept.

It's 2019 and still retailers haven't quite got a grip on their online shopping websites. Coles, a large supermarket in Australia, sold products with deep discounts due to a glitch until the company found the problem and restored the system. This story comes with a modern twist with users going to social media to spread the word about the glitch on the site so others can quickly take advantage. The store was able to get ahead of the surge in online shoppers and cull some of the carts, but not before the front runners picked up their discount goods.

Oh, look, a good use for social media. What are we up to, 5, or 6 now? =)


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  • (Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:05PM (9 children)

    by edIII (791) on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:05PM (#797401)

    I get your point, but I was speaking to the context of it being a redeeming situation for social media. Yeah, big corporations are a pox on all our houses and I have zero sympathy for them. Big corporations are shitty sociopathic creatures, but this seems to be a situation in which it's starting to change all of us into shitty sociopathic creatures too.

    Unless the people spreading the word on social media had no idea it wasn't intended.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:13PM (4 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:13PM (#797406) Journal

    If you don't do it, somebody else will. Social media, deal sites, whatever, people catch wind of these mistakes (or any exploits) and they spread virally.

    If you make an order, you're initiating a process that could be cancelled/not honored by the retailer. It's not theft, and it required no illegal "hacking". So while some might feel that it's stealing, others are going to feel that it's a completely legitimate transaction. Which it is.

    Are we all morphing into sociopaths like Jake and Logan Paul? Do I have any emotions left at all? That remains to be seen.

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    • (Score: 4, Funny) by woodcruft on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:27PM

      by woodcruft (6528) on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:27PM (#797414)

      Social media, deal sites, whatever, people catch wind of these mistakes (or any exploits) and they spread virally.

      Am I just getting old and cynical by thinking that's precisely the point?

      Shove some goods up on your site at ludicrously low prices & drop a link to them on some other site saying "Look!!! Cheap stuff!!!"

      Sounds like Coles' DBA had a cron job to update the DB a few minutes later...

      Result: muppets grovelling around your site looking for other 'bargains' and hopefully buying some of your regular shitty and expensive goods.

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    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @10:34PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @10:34PM (#797453)

      I gave you a related warning in another comment, I don't know how seriously you take your own words but I think you meant them as such.

      So while some might feel that it's stealing, others are going to feel that it's a completely legitimate transaction. Which it is.

      Are we all morphing into sociopaths like Jake and Logan Paul?

      You answered your question before you even asked it. Dehumanization, justification through the bad acts of others, and the worst cynicism of all "If you don't do it, somebody else will". It is technically a legitimate transaction but would you feel the same way if you paid with a $100 bill for a $30 purchase and they didn't stop you when you walked away with no change then blew you off when you came back for it?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @04:50PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @04:50PM (#797842)

      > If you don't do it, somebody else will.

      Not even a commons tragedy here. What you're saying is plain "if people think they can get away with it, they will steal."

      Well, that's nice. I know communities of people who would not, without greater cause than personal gain.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:17PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:17PM (#797409)

    The capitalist solution is simple: BAN social media, BREAK UP big corporations, and TAX sociopathic behaviour.

    Also, BAN OR TAX cigarettes, alcohol, and all other unhealthy food, drugs and activities like consuming meat and sportsball. Finally, enforce proper hygiene via IoT-connected toothbrushes, showerheads, mirrors, and washcloths.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by edIII on Wednesday February 06 2019, @10:20PM (2 children)

      by edIII (791) on Wednesday February 06 2019, @10:20PM (#797448)

      Finally, enforce proper hygiene via IoT-connected toothbrushes, showerheads, mirrors, and washcloths.

      That makes the perfect crime easy. I wet the IoT-connected washcloth, start washing my taint area, then while the NSA analysts are screaming and gouging their eyes out, I hack a bank with my free hand :) When they ask for an alibi, I'll just say I was washing my taint according to the published doubleplusgood hygiene guidelines. Check the logs.

      --
      Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @06:33AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @06:33AM (#797641)

        What's a "taint"?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @06:40AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @06:40AM (#797642)

        https://www.xkcd.com/341/ [xkcd.com]

        Oblig XKCD