# The Artisan Bread Thread -- anyone else get weird book suggestions?



## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

A few months ago someone mentioned that Amazon sent regular suggestions to buy the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes book, and I laughed because I got it too.

But yesterday, Amazon said I had clicked on the book (it was second in my "recent history") and no way--I hadn't clicked on it.

So I'm wondering--is this some sort of glitch? Or a bread conspiracy?

If you get the Artisan Bread emails (I've been getting them for years), I want to know! 

Or any other strange suggestion year after year that Amazon just won't let go of!


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## cheriereich (Feb 12, 2011)

You're not alone. For some reason I get that same Artisan Bread book in my recommended books. True, I like bread, but I'm not much for baking and haven't bought anything like it. It's weird. Perhaps it is the bread conspiracy.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

The Artisan bread book is almost always in my "recent history".  According to Amazon, I look at it multiple times every day.  At this point I would probably think something was wrong if it didn't show up.


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## Trophywife007 (Aug 31, 2009)

I'm relieved to hear that this book is showing up for others.  I was beginning to wonder if someone had managed to hitchhike on my internet connection -- my imagination was starting to work overtime.  It never shows up on my husband's account, though.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

It's showing up in mine, and I BOUGHT it 3 years ago, so no need to LOOK at it now.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

I KNEW IT!

Someone unmask the culprits behind this!

It is hilarious, but I don't bake bread either. And it's just...weird. Gotta wonder how many copies of that book have sold out of sheer exposure. (Maybe Jeff Bezos' mom wrote it...)


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## MartinGibbs (Jun 20, 2011)

I get one per week at least... at first I thought it was because I was looking at books on how to build an outdoor stone pizza oven.


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## Wisteria Clematis (Oct 29, 2008)

Artisan Bread" has shown up in my book suggestions half a dozen times too and I have no idea why. There have also beem a few other titles that appeared on my 'most recently viewed' list that I know darn well I never looked at. I wonder if a few author/hackers have figured out how to make this happen in order to give their books some exposure?


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## StephanieJ (Nov 11, 2010)

Wow, I had always assumed it shows up for me because I bought a bread machine at Amazon many moons ago.


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## ericbt (Nov 7, 2010)

It IS a conspiracy. I can't for the life of me think of anything I've done that would even remotely connect me to that cookbook, but it appears regularly in the suggestion emails.


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## IowaGuy (Jan 31, 2012)

I too am the victom of the Artisan Bread book.....what the heck lol!  I read fantasy / sci fi so I am not entirely sure how that even relates lol


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

TODAY I was on Amazon and saw the ExOfficio Men's Boxer was in my "recently viewed" list (after Artisan Bread.)

I KNOW I didn't click on this (OR Artisan Bread). And I KNOW no one else uses my computer.

How can Amazon serve up relevant suggestions with this going on?


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## Straker (Oct 1, 2010)

I thought I was the only one who couldn't get rid of this stupid book. About a year ago another mysterious item, a high-end digital camera, was also appearing repeatedly in my viewing history though I'd never looked at it. That one eventually went away. Artisan Bread, however, seems to be unkillable.


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## Jeroen Steenbeeke (Feb 3, 2012)

Scary. I only buy fiction on Amazon, ever.

Does Amazon know I used to work at a bakery while I was a student?


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

ok. I think I know why it's showing up for everyone. I think it was a free book a while ago.(year+) To remove it, there is a link under the recommendation that says fix this recommendation. Click the link, remove anything you don't want Amazon using as a rec. As I went through my list last night, there was a pair of $200 shoes. I don't ever pay that much for shoes. On the left side of the screen you can delete by category, so I deleted all non-Kindle categories.


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## Trophywife007 (Aug 31, 2009)

I've "fixed my recommendation" with Amazon a number of times, but it is persistent.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

I don't think it's ever been free. It's a $14.99 ebook from a Big 6 publisher. Those don't go free. Besides, my link is always for the physical cookbook.

I'll try to remove it from my history. I'm still guessing this particular title has some sort of code glitch on it, either that or Macmillan is paying a LOT for good placement.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

No, it was free.  Because I have it and would not have paid for it.


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## LaraAmber (Feb 24, 2009)

I have it all the time! 

I've never looked at it and never downloaded it.  (I'm not a big "snag the free books" person and the only cookbook for Kindle I have is Cook's Illustrated.)  I thought it was just weird.  Though apparently if you look at enough Thomas and Dinosaur Train stuff it goes away.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Yep, I guess everyone has the Artisan Bread in their recently viewed list.  I noticed it also says I recently viewed the "Sterling Silver Marcasite and Garnet Colored Glass Heart Pendant" Um, no.  If this wasn't happening to so many people, I'd start to worry someone was logging in as me or something.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

<whispering> not me. . .and I think I even got the durned thing a while ago when it was free. . .have never seen it again.  </whispering>


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

i feel left out.  i've never gotten it as a recently viewed or recommended.  is amazon trying to tell me something?


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## Trophywife007 (Aug 31, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> No, it was free. Because I have it and would not have paid for it.


That's probably when I clicked on it. I went through a phase where I was trying to show some restraint so I didn't get it.

I almost hate to say this, (don't want to jinx it) but I haven't seen it recently in my recommendations. Maybe I went in and fixed my recommendations enough that they finally got the message.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

Dragle said:


> Yep, I guess everyone has the Artisan Bread in their recently viewed list. I noticed it also says I recently viewed the "Sterling Silver Marcasite and Garnet Colored Glass Heart Pendant" Um, no. If this wasn't happening to so many people, I'd start to worry someone was logging in as me or something.


OMG!!!! The garnet pendant was in my recent views today!!!!!! I was wondering about it.

And also, a COFFEE MAKER! I HATE COFFEE! Why would I look at a durned coffee maker

What is going on?

I've been going in and deleting these things from my browsing history. But I smell a RAT! I'm hoping it's a glitch. Really hoping. But I wonder if "recently viewed" placement on Amazon can be bought!


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> <whispering> not me. . .and I think I even got the durned thing a while ago when it was free. . .have never seen it again.  </whispering>


Since you already have it they figure you don't need to see it.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

I have it and still see it!

ok I admit I haven't seen it in 3 days... After I deleted my whole viewing history thing at amazon.


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## Neo (Mar 30, 2009)

Lol, I'm sooooo glad I'm not alone, and totally relieved nobody actually broke into my account JUST to look at this book and at a Nikon camera  !


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

Just a few hours later, I go in to see what "I" have viewed, and I get these things in my recent viewed:
I DID NOT LOOK AT THEM!

McDavid Lightweight Shoulder Support Large 
by McDavid Shoulder Braces (November 30, 2009) 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple iMac MC508LL/A 21.5-Inch Desktop (OLD VERSION) 
by Apple (July 27, 2010) 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The World's Healthiest Foods, Essential Guide for the Healthiest Way of Eating 
by George Mateljan (July 18, 2006)


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## KathyLynnHarris (Feb 2, 2012)

HA! this thread is cracking me up. I too get the Artisan bread recommendation AND Artisan pizza making for that matter as well. There is nothing, and I am sure of this, artisan about me or my cooking. I also do not wear perfume unless you count Scent of Two Golden Retriever Mixes in Need of Baths, and today this popped up in my Recently Viewed list: Burberry Brit Eau de Parfum - $46 bottle of perfume. 

Maybe Amazon really does know everything about me now and believes I need these sorts of things to grow as a person.


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## Trophywife007 (Aug 31, 2009)

Artisan pizza does sound good, but I don't dare click on it!

I just checked my recommendations and Artisan Bread is back on it... along with the garnet colored pendant, which I've never seen before.  Again, it's good to know I'm not the only one, as I was starting to think up conspiracy theories.


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## valleycat1 (Mar 15, 2011)

I'd been seeing this too, but we have bought several other related books & some bread making kitchen stuff, so wasn't surprised.  But lately I've been seeing odd random stuff that I KNOW I haven't looked at, in categories I'd never even approach.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

I think they've gotten their labels mixed up and this is really the "Recommended for Somebody Else" section!


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## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

I just noticed while looking at a Kindleboard's member's book, that in my "also viewed" screen was Artisian Breads right at the top! Urrrghh!

I have never, ever, never, never, ever viewed (on purpose) Artisian Bread!!!! I don't want bread shoved down my throat, I follow a low carb diet.

So I went to the "edit your views", and I deleted it! If we all do this, do you think Amazon will get the message?


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

I delete my browsing history @ amazon on a daily basis now. (this past week)
So far, no bread today.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

Yeah, I started a whole thread on this on the other section of the board. I've been deleting Artisan Bread daily for a couple weeks now, but it just comes back.

The garnet necklace has also been appearing in people's recently viewed.

I also had a coffee maker as recently viewed, and I don't drink coffee.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

(merged the new thread into the original thread in LTK. . .sorry for any confuion.  )


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## Sherlock (Dec 17, 2008)

Not only do I have the Artisan Bread in my recently viewed list (and didn't), but it says I looked at guitars and a Sony DVD player (and didn't).  What a hoot!


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## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

I had started a new thread asking everyone to check their also viewed, and if it's there to delete it, but unfortunately my thread got merged with the old one. Let's all revolt together.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

I had deleted it (Artisan Bread) before, but it was back today so I did again.  The necklace had not come back, but there was a Black & Decker Home Improvement book that I had not viewed, which I also deleted.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

Today's recently views included

Artsn Brd. I am going to quit spelling it out in case it is going into my cookies, and Amazon is picking it up from this very thread and serving it back up to me. I'm beginning to wonder, as I've deleted that sucker a lot of times.

New today: a [email protected] tellievision

I really think Amazon uses the recently viewed as a marketing tactic. It is, after all, just another row in the database. Seems easy to add things to it that are completely unrelated to what someone actually views. It's probably an easy way to make things appear more often than to go through other methods. Lazy programming, I'm betting.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Yeah, it showed back up in mine today too.. and it's not showing as previously purchased on the book page itself, but when I look at my purchase history, I bought it in 2009.


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## Susanne O (Feb 8, 2010)

I keep getting e-mails from Amazon about this Artisan bread book. Why? I don't even eat much bread. I never clicked on anything remotely connected with baking bread, artisan or otherwise. How do I stop this?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Susanne, as far as I know, this is the third thread about the Artisan Bread...I'll try to find one of them to merge this with, it might have good info for you.

Betsy


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

Guys, I have some Art--Bread news you may or may not like.

So, I talked to a person who knows about how these things happen--why something might come up as also viewed when we didn't view it. It would also explain another thread on this board "Get rid of the women" where someone got ads they didn't like here on the KB boards and everyone asked her where she'd been to get ads like she'd seen since they are cookie-related.

Apparently we all have in common a web site that allows ads, and one of the ads involves a script that loads a web site, which for us A-bread people would be Amazon, in such a small iFrame that it isn't really visible. But it registers in our cookies as a view on Amazon even though we didn't know we did it. To us we went on a web site with an ad on it. To Amazon, we viewed their page.

It could be a Google banner ad that is doing it. My coder friend didn't think it would be Amazon itself, as they would catch on to that pretty quick. It could be some other site many of us go to, or it could be a Google ad that appears here on the KBs. But that is what does it.

KB can't help what is in those Google ads. But it should be that Google doesn't allow code like that, which is considered malicious. I'm going to be mindful of the banner ads here and see if I can spot what it might be, so I can report that advertiser to Google. I doubt I'll make much headway, as likely that advertiser can create new accounts on the fly.

But here is what we CAN do. If some advertiser is using code like that to promote a certain product--we know the product that is hiring them. And A-bread is definitely one. I'm going to report the views I didn't view to Amazon, because if I'm seeing it, then Amazon can see a product that is getting a cluster of unexpected views. And they can do something if they choose. They may not care, but they may not like that someone is manipulating their system.

For me, I prefer my views to be "real," so that Amazon can do what it does well--recommend me stuff I want, not junk. So for the next few days, I'm going to send Amazon a message telling them which products are showing up in my views that shouldn't be there. They can act or not on the products that are benefitting from this tactic.


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## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

Thanks Texas Girl. I wish there was away we could get this moved back into the writer's cafe. I asked the mod who merged mine to consider please putting it back there as also viewed and boughts can directly impact our sales.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

I can't imagine anyone's book sales really being affected. It's the products that are seriously using this tactic--the coffee maker, the necklace, the plasma TV, some other stuff. A-bread is the only book. It's an Amazon problem, not a Kindle problem.

I'm willing to bet the people pushing these products don't even know the tactic that is in play. I'm betting the A-bread people hired some company to "increase their visiblity" and "guarantee hits." And the A-bread people didn't ask *how*. This is the kind of thing that got JCPenney penalized by Google for manipulating search results, even though it was some SEO company they hired that did it.

Some of this is just part of doing business on the internet. We are probably all manipulated in a dozen shady ways every day.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

Yup, you CAN apparently hire people to manipulate Amazon to recommend what you want it to.

I can't get rid of Artisan Bread. But here's the article on how companies do it:

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/03/28/this-guy-figured-out-how-to-recommend-anything-he-wants-to-you-on-amazon/


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Just as an FYI, it looks like the Ghostery add-on for Safari, Firefox, and others can block these sorts of behaviors.

Mike


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## valleycat1 (Mar 15, 2011)

Maybe we need to start complaining directly to the A-bread writers and publishers, or to the companies selling the other products.  Amazon has given me the 'clear your cache' advice which doesn't work.  The several times I've emailed CS on this, I've suggested they read through the Kindleboards thread to see it isn't just me.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

I DEFINITELY have a bad taste in my mouth for Artisan Bread! Whether they know the people they hired are doing these shady tactics or not, it leaves a very bad impression.

Look at your GOOGLE ALERTS, authors Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois! Your brand is getting mucked!

And thanks, Valleycat1 for the heads up on Ghostery. I'll look into it.


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## Wisteria Clematis (Oct 29, 2008)

A few weeks ago I downloaded "Do Not Track Plus"--it's a free software program that prevents companies from tracking you or planting cookies. It got great reviews and was free so I decided to give it a chance. In two weeks it has prevented more than 20,000 advertisers from tracking me! And the Artisan Bread book has suddenly stopped appearing in my recommendations list.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Wisteria Clematis said:


> A few weeks ago I downloaded "Do Not Track Plus"--it's a free software program that prevents companies from tracking you or planting cookies. It got great reviews and was free so I decided to give it a chance. In two weeks it has prevented more than 20,000 advertisers from tracking me! And the Artisan Bread book has suddenly stopped appearing in my recommendations list.


Sounds good. I deleted Artisan Bread from my recently viewed list (again!), and installed the Do Not Track Plus Firefox add-on. We'll see what happens. Did it tell you which website the dreaded Bread was associated with?

UPDATE: That #@! Artisan Bread is back on my recently viewed items list already!  The Do Not Track thing is good and I'll keep it installed, but it was not good enough to stop the Bread!


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## Steverino (Jan 5, 2011)

I thought it was a quirky Kindleboards inside joke... until _I got it! _


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

Yes, I can't get it to go away. I'm pretty sure at this point the offending ad is a Goodle AdWords that specifically targets the Kindle Boards as they know we go to Amazon more than average. In Adwords you can target certain sites.

Punks.


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

So this is where the thread lives? Saw it once and lost it! 
I'm still getting the Artisan bread email - that book must be a best seller the amount of effort Amazon puts into to promoting it.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I've seen it show up in my browsing history when I hadn't viewed it. Advised Amazon and they are passing it on to 'tech'. Meanwhile they suggested forcing a restart of the browser and/or clearing the cache. And I periodically edit my browsing history at Amazon...which is why I noticed it in the first place.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

It's clear to me Amazon is *not* promoting it. Whoever is working for Artisan Bread is making it appear in our browser history through sneaky means--GoogleAds here on the Kindle Boards. An invisible iFrame is opened and opens Amazon while we're happily reading KB threads, and loads the Artisan Bread page. So when we next go to Amazon for reals, it is our most recent view.

Brilliant. But a scam, to me.

I reported it to Amazon. They didn't care that their system was being manipulated. Told me to clear my cache. Like I hadn't, many times. Aw well.


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## LaraAmber (Feb 24, 2009)

I reported it to amazon as well and got an email about how it was being forwarded to the "kindle development team" because I mentioned Kindleboards in the email.  Either poor reading comprehension or computer auto reply.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Any time you report something, the first response is canned. . . .I don't think it's completely automated, I think it is a human who decides which pre-written response is appropriate.  Though they probably only get to choose from a small assortment based on the subject.  

You need to usually ask at least twice -- I always quote my first comment and then fill it out in the second report -- before you can be sure the person responding is actually reading closely what you're issue is.  And, even then, I'm sure that there are 'talking points' they're supposed to use.  

I've always also had the option, second time through, to have them call to help it get sorted out.  Which would probably work better for some things.


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

TexasGirl said:


> It's clear to me Amazon is *not* promoting it. Whoever is working for Artisan Bread is making it appear in our browser history through sneaky means--GoogleAds here on the Kindle Boards. An invisible iFrame is opened and opens Amazon while we're happily reading KB threads, and loads the Artisan Bread page. So when we next go to Amazon for reals, it is our most recent view.
> 
> Brilliant. But a scam, to me.


I had no idea, - that's so scary.


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