99 Comments

sorted by
's avatar
  1. Pinned
    Sigma's avatar
    Morning, I just wanted to share an update on this.

    We've been looking at ways of reviewing kindle book deals to help improve the general quality of the published content we alllow to be shared.

    As a first step, from today onwards, all kindle books must have a genuine 'About the Author Section' displayed on the kindle book page. Reviewing recently shared freebies this would remove the majority of book titles that members suspect were AI generated self published books. The guidelines only apply to ebooks submitted from today, not restrospectively.

    We can then review again in a month+ to see if further minimum criteria should be introduced, such as minimum number of ebook / author reviews etc.

    This is a publication guideline update, but we have shared feedback with our product team from our community members asking for a wau to exclude content and have a more customised browsing and deal alert experience. That is not something the Community teams on the various pepper platforms can introduce, as it's changes to the platform in all formats - web; mobile browser; iOS app; android app.

    But hopefully adding minimum criteria will improve the general quality of Kindle ebook content being shared on the community.
  2. Steeve42's avatar
    The daily HDUK email is getting more and more of these 'deals' ai generated kindle books, these are not deals and are taking over, if only there was a way to have deals from only certain categories on the email, and exclude this rubbish.
    Sigma's avatar
    hi thank you for sharing your feedback and this is something we will pass over to our Daily Newsletter team for you now
  3. JLB75's avatar
    I've sent HUD a message complaining about these serial spammers and their rubbish deals.  I've suggested that they ask the spammers to either put all their great deals in one post or make another section just for free crappy Kindle books.  I'd suggest you other guys do the same just so they know there is an issue out there!
    deleted2237438's avatar
    I tried that ages ago - the response was basically that everyone likes those spammy posts and that nothing would change. It’s telling that the spammy posts tend to be almost immediately liked and commented by the same people. It’s also true that just because some people are tricked into thinking that a free kindle book is good information (when they almost overwhelmingly are not), doesn’t mean that it’s a good thing to flood your Deals app with.
  4. tjmdealer's avatar
    Megathread or filter - please! Freebies ain't what it used to be and when someone or people have posted several - it can take up significant pages, most annoying when browsing
    mad.dog's avatar
    What about the main deals page getting clogged up with these
  5. deleted2237438's avatar
    Yes please!

    Endless low quality free Kindle ‘deals’ from the usual suspects do nothing but reduce the quality of HUKD as a whole.

    If someone likes collecting tat that nobody would ever pay for, and wants to give attention to those posting who are clearly desperate for it, then great for you, but let the rest of us stick to *actual* deals, please.

    Although people have been requesting this feature for years now, so I doubt HUKD will do anything about it…

    The sheer number of poor-quality Kindle freebies artificially inflates the number of deals HUKD can claim they have…
  6. Ferris's avatar
    They need their own category as they overwhelm the Freebies section. I've given up even checking it.
  7. CharlesN's avatar
    This is a great website and a fantastic source for seeking out bargains. The feed is becoming filled with 'free' books, mostly by the same few contributors though.

    I'm not saying these don't have a place on HotUKDeals as some people appreciate them. There are too many though and most of them follow the same format:

    They're not published books, the authors of self-published novels give them away for free. By giving them away and getting a load of free downloads, they can bill themselves as a 'best-selling author'. They're having to give them away as they're not selling otherwise. These aren't quality publications.

    Because they're not published books they all use the same Photoshop-generated mockup effect to create the visual of a physical book. At no point have these been available in print format.

    They frequently use the same techniques - five stars on the cover (this is added by the author and there is rarely a mention of where this review came from), a subtitle saying 'Part of the Jane Smith Mysteries' or 'A Detective Smith Mystery' (nobody knows who these people are, it's another marketing technique to make you think it's from a well-established author).

    The "books" were originally available for a very low price - often just a few pence. Making them free is only a way to increase perceived sales.

    Maybe compiling these into a single feed would be a better option. Those who are interested and want to download free Kindle books en masse would be better served by having these collated in one place. This creates more space for genuine deals and a broader range of content.

    There are so many it's starting to feel like the stream is being spammed with these 'deals'.
  8. CptSimon's avatar
    Hi,

    books are clogging everything up - can they have their own section please ?
  9. DannyB91's avatar
    Hey,

    It would be awesome if Freebies could become 2 different categories: Digital Freebies and Real-World/Physical Freebies

    This would make it much easier to weed out the few-and-far-between real-world freebies from the masses of e-books etc. that are posted.

    Thanks for your consideration!
    Sigma's avatar
    Hi thank you for sharing your feedback. We will make sure to pass along your suggestion to the product team for review as they consider the design and implementation of upcoming new features.
  10. Jason1's avatar
    More than 80% of the freebies tab are digital books. It's completely out of balance and, as such, renders the whole tab low-value and spammy.

    Please add a filter to the filters menu that can deal with this problem.
  11. Roger_Irrelevant's avatar
    I'm guessing someone's making money 💰 on the click through's but if people are not interested there's no harm in allowing people the option to hide this (or any) category.
  12. Yas_Min's avatar
    Every other deal is a kindle book or an app.
    How many of us have to complain about this before something is done?

    Can you just pin a kindle post so everyone that finds it useful can congregate in there? Or give them their own section that doesn't show up elsewhere?
  13. Alexanderlocks's avatar
    You're not the first to bring this up, I also agree it's just not something that's been implemented yet...
  14. deleted179836's avatar
    completelt agree not sure who bothers posting such a load of rubbish on the freebies thread every day
  15. deleted2484007's avatar
    [deleted]
    Sigma's avatar
    Hi this is a request we have shared with the product team and they are looking at ways that our community can better view their preferred content
  16. JLB75's avatar
    It's getting beyond now, there's another one at it today. I'm just reporting every "deal" they put up now as Spam. Let's see what HUKD do about it.
    CharlesN's avatar
    Completely agree. These made up almost half the posts on my feed at one point this week.

    Hilariously, one of the serial spammers has the following as their profile strapline:
    "the never-ending battle against illiterates who vote cold"

    Reading AI-generated "books" and collecting thousands of worthless e-books from unpublished authors makes you some sort of genius and everyone else is "illiterate", apparently.

    I had a warning from HUKD for voting this incessant spam as cold. I'd imagine you'll get something similar for reporting them all as spam, even if they genuinely are spamming the boards with this rubbish.
  17. ThePaulGuy's avatar
    Seriously..... I will never vite cold on stuff thats free BUT.... Is there away to block these amazon book deals...
    6 out of the first 10 things listed here for me today are free kindle books...
    Enough please!

    I get it, they are free and everything but like.... "Learn Ukrainian" and "the uses of CBD oil" - are so seriously niche and I will guess that 99% have no interest...

    Don't get me wrong it's great that these deals are put up here... BUT its starting to become hotukbookdeals!!

    Is there any chance of someone starting a megatread just for these book deals? Or some way to have them in a section of their own?

    Thanks
  18. Steeve42's avatar
    The irony here is that a few are posting most of these 'deals' in order to become super posters and get vouchers from the site, but by doing so are actually making the site worse. So hotdeals are paying people to lower the quality of their own site, genius.
    AnotherLondoner's avatar
    The freebies section doesn't qualify for the daily voucher prizes.
  19. mad.dog's avatar
    Another day and another deals feed clogged with crappy ebook 'deals' - this site is going to the dogs
  20. Val_ent_ine's avatar
    Hey,

    We had indeed several similar feedbacks ! Hope we can do something for that, I will pass it on again (edited)
  21. JLB75's avatar
    Can a separate section for free Amazon books be made to stop the spamming that is currently going on.  Some posters post the same book or section of books every other week!
  22. Proveright's avatar
    That's like saying there are too many soap channels on TV. How difficult is it to scroll on? (edited)
    deleted2237438's avatar
    That’s the thing with tv though… You don’t have to scroll through all the chaff to get to what you want, the tv company let you go directly to your interests using a program guide. There’s nothing stopping HUKD from implementing the same beneficial user experience, except HUKD themselves. (edited)
  23. householdhorror's avatar
    This problem has only got worse since the discussion was started, and frankly since LLMs have become popular the quality of book also looks worse.

    I think the ideas about a digital section are a little unnecessary, it is very clearly and specifically kindle ebooks that are the problem. Games and apps and the like simply don't have the same volume of posts.
  24. KentonRedKites's avatar
    Author
    Bump - please can this be sorted
  25. deleted2484007's avatar
    [deleted]
    mad.dog's avatar
    Based on the responses from Sigma it's clear that the click throughs are revenue generating otherwise this would have been addressed months ago

    This thread also seems really well hidden away from the world too (edited)
  26. deleted2237438's avatar
    At first it was amusing, but I’m convinced that some users are doing it just to inflate their ‘HUKD deals score’ - they aren’t deals, they’re poor quality (often with glaring inaccuracies) and always free owing to the fact that nobody would ever pay for them.

    This kind of thing isn’t what HUKD was created for. It’s supposed to help the masses save money on things that otherwise we would pay more for, and to spread the word on good deals so everyone can take advantage.

    We all know that there are free Kindle ebooks and that they are easy to find. There’s no need for the dozens of rinse-and-repeat free self-published deals to clutter the timelines every day.

    Surely even the most ardent hands-off HUKD moderator can see that the quality of the timeline is now degrading?
    deleted2237438's avatar
    It’s ironic that I created a thread asking for a way to avoid the spam of the poor quality self-published free ebooks infecting HUKD, and my thread was merged into this of thread that HUKD already ignore. Yet the mountain of tat deals posted as free ebooks aren’t receiving any attention at all…

    The message is loud and clear, HUKD is all about the quantity rather than the quality, as this and other issues have taught. I guess it’s time to vote with my feet and go elsewhere to look for a higher quality deals forum… 🤷🏻‍♂️
  27. Simon_Lilly's avatar
    Hi

    The amount of books in the freebies is a joke now. Please can books have their own section finally ?
  28. JLB75's avatar
    My last comment was deleted by HUD as I guess I upset them by mentioning certain spammers. Here's my reply to HUD...


    Okay that fair enough but can you contact the spammers and remind them of this part of the Code Of Conduct as they are spamming the Freebies site with deals which clearly aren't deals and in doing so are causing a lot of frustration and anger to other members of the site....

    Integrity and Honesty
    We encourage all members to consider the impact of their actions when sharing deals, opinions, or information. Imagine you’re offering advice or opinions to a friend or family member. In an era of fake news and misinformation, these behaviours set Pepper communities apart from many other spaces and create trust between members.
    Mildredinnit's avatar
    Oooh it was a super poster you mentioned. Untouchable in hukd eyes
  29. Mildredinnit's avatar
    A super poster had 2 oprah books listed but because they went cold they were allowed to expire them when they are still live. How does that work (edited)
    Sigma's avatar
    Hi we don’t allow active live deals to be expired simply because they have gone cold regardless of deal poster, and if these threads are reported we will unexpire. So if you could please let the community team know by using the report link on the relevant threads, they will check if the link is valid and then action. Thank you
  30. mad.dog's avatar
    I'm sure this has been covered before but search didn't find anything at all

    This weekend my feed was just a sea of ebook posts, and I lost interest in the site completely and gave up

    I tried muting Boz and Fantasy-Ireland but their posts still remain - any other tips?
    mad.dog's avatar
    OK - so this thread never appeared in a search?!?!?!?!
  31. Simon_Lilly's avatar
    Hi,

    the books are really clogging up the sections, can you please please give them their own section asap
  32. KentonRedKites's avatar
    Author
    Bump
  33. deleted93440's avatar
    Bump from mods censoring my comments regarding the non value and over saturation of the site with free kindle marketing spam materials. If people want to 'follow' and 'collect' free kindle books they can go to Amazon and filter by free. Unfortunately such a reverse filter is not available on this site because of the above stated profit motive of diluting actual product deals with advertising.
  34. Simon_Lilly's avatar
    It’s simple, just have a books section 
  35. JLB75's avatar
    I've just reported each of the serial spammers last 10 freebie deals as spam. 10 in the last 2 hours, getting beyond ridiculous now.
    Sigma's avatar
    As we've mentioned previously, if Kindle books aren't of interest, simply refraining from voting or commenting on those threads will naturally filter them out from your 'For You' feed. It's worth noting that the appeal of Kindle deals varies among members. Many of these posts receive overwhelmingly positive feedback, with often over 80/85% of the registered votes marking them as hot. Thus, it's important to recognise that those who prefer not to see these deals constitute a minority within the community.

    Repeatedly flagging these posts as spam might be perceived as excessive, especially considering the substantial number of members who find value in them and regularly vote them as hot. Also please reserve reporting for instances where there's a specific reason, such as duplicate listings or cases where the price has remained at "free" for an extended period, perhaps since release. Addressing non-report-related matters consumes unnecessary time for our community team.

    Rest assured too, we have consistently shared community feedback with Pepper's senior team, advocating for future design changes that could possibly allow for greater personalisation of deal feed preferences for each of our members.

    Meanwhile your understanding and cooperation is greatly appreciated as we work towards improving the community experience for everyone.
  36. KentonRedKites's avatar
    Author
    How do we raise this with the mods !?
    MrAlbert's avatar
    The correct process is to post something in feedback requesting it.

    However I should earn you this is an often requested feature that so far has not been picked up by the development team for implementation.
  37. JLB75's avatar
    Here's HUD's reply to my recent reports about this super duper deal...

    hotukdeals.com/dea…375

    "Hey JLB75,

    Thank you for reporting the following deal: "Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell - Kindle Edition".

    You reported for the following reason: Deal already exists "https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/george-orwell-1984-kindle-edition-4314106"

    We've reviewed your report and no action was required on our part this time. Here's what we decided - different edition

    This report will now be closed - if you think we overlooked anything, let us know. We appreciate your help."


    Different edition or different cover, what a joke HUD are.
    Adam's avatar
    Hi, if an item is a different edition or version, we would not consider the post to be a duplicate .
  38. KentonRedKites's avatar
    Author
    Bump - any news Admin?
    JLB75's avatar
    They won't do anything about it, god knows why?
  39. BeKindAlways's avatar
    Just wondering. I'm mostly only interested in physical freebies.
  40. Mildredinnit's avatar
    It's shocking the amount of listings for free kindle books. But to me they are not a deal because they are free and should be blocked off hukd deals listings
    JLB75's avatar
    Yep, but as soon as someone posts around 5-6 individual book deals for 99p a book on the Deals sight, they get advised by the HUD staff to maybe post them in one post. Strange that the usual suspects on the freebies sight don't get told to do so?
  41. Proveright's avatar
    I don't understand why anyone is getting in a tiz over the posting of free books? When alk you have to do is scroll on snd not even click on them.
    These Kindle books often don't stay free for long, and some people pay money for them.
    The same arguments could be applied to the watch deals, that there are too many of them and they are not really deals nor bargains. Should the watches have their own section?
    JLB75's avatar
    Because they are spamming the site with crap books and getting away with it.  Why should we have to scroll through a load of crap, we might miss out on a genuine freebie deal.
's avatar