Lycoris

1.5M ratings
277k ratings

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
ineffectualdemon
canagadoodles

An infographic image with Starro from The Suicide Squad (2021) in the background. Starro is a giant alien starfish with a large central eye, destroying a city. Text: "Project Starfish: aka amazon is stealing small business data because it wants to be amazon.com - Earth's only bookstore." Amazon's 1998 logo is referenced, with its tagline "Earth's biggest bookstore".ALT
An infographic image showing two sets of brand listings from Amazon - Friday Afternoon Tea and Sketch Sauce. Products featured from Sketch Sauce (a production partner of 3D artists) features sculptures from Found Family Adventurecrafts, Grumpii and Leylina Figurines. Text: "Small business owners in the US suddenly noticed that their products were listed on Amazon. They were not told that this was happening. They did not opt in. They did not give Amazon permission."ALT
An infographic. Text: "How'd they get our data for this? PROJECT STARFISH. According to internal documents leaked to Business Insider in late 2024: "(Starfish)... uses AI models to scrape and then generate "complete, correct and consistent product information globally." The eventual goal of the multiyear project is to make Amazon the best source of product information for "all products worldwide," the document added." The only online store you'll need." A cartoon face looking stressed is drawn in the corner.ALT
Text: "Starfish has been BUSY: Scraping 200,000 brand websites for product data (in 2025 alone) Auto-rewriting titles, bullets and descriptions using generative AI AI-generating product images, video ads and written information to fill listings A/B testing AI-enhanced vs. standard listings In service of an 'experimental' program that we never consented to and were never told about." An image from Amazon's information page is shown below, detailing the process for the AI shopping agent. It reads, "1. Search brands. Explore a range of brands and discover new selection available directly from merchant websites. 2. Shop on or off Amazon. Stay with Amazon & shop with AI assistance, or navigate directly to the merchant website. 3. Effortless purchase with AI. When you find a product you like, click 'Buy for me' and Amazon's AI handles payment to order management. 4. Manage your merchant orders. Track these orders through Amazon's 'Your orders' page under the "buy for me orders" tab.ALT
Text: "isn't it good that small businesses are getting sales from Amazon? Good question. No." A word cloud has tons of text with the consequences of this program. The various text phrases are: Increased Returns Data and listings entirely out of our hands Inaccurate/false listings Chargebacks Unprofessional display of product No customer relationship Customer confusion Refunds Policy mismatch Poor reviews Loss of brand recognition Removing personalization Rerouting customers back to Amazon Undercutting prices Privacy breaches Intellectual property violations Reduced income from external shopping Loss of insights for analytics Loss of trust Reduced credibility Data surveillance LLM & gen AI ethical issues Stolen labor Ecological impact Creating duplicate products to compete Legitimizes lack of consent in technology and more.ALT
An infographic, showing stick figures interacting. Text: "Here is a simplified visual example. Let's follow Ruth. Ruth is a small business owner who sells hand-printed tees with her original art." A picture of a stick figure (Ruth) gesturing happily to an orange shirt with a cartoon flower on it. The infographic splits into two possibilities, when customers find Ruth through Amazon vs. her online store. In the Amazon scenario, a stick figure wearing Ruth's shirt is talking to another stick figure. Text: "Where did you get your shirt?" "It's from Amazon". A picture of Ruth looks concerned. In the Ruth's Store scenario, the stick figures say: Text: "Where did you get your shirt?" "Ruth's Custom Tees!" A picture of Ruth looks pleased.ALT
An infographic showing stick figures and two scenarios: Amazon's redirect or Buy for Me, or purchasing directly from Ruth's store. Text: "Customers return to where the product was bought..." In the Amazon scenario, the stick figure looks at four shirt options. One is Ruth's, and three others are AI designed shirts (actual listings from Amazon). Text: "So many options! I'll get these." "Ruth gets one more sale. Amazon gets more." Below, a computer representing Amazon AI says: "The data collected says that Ruth's product is selling well!" There is a picture of a similar orange shirt to Ruth's, with a cartoon flower on it. Ruth is looking at the knock-off shirt design tearfully. Text: "Amazon is now offering this design. It's cheaper. Shipping is faster. Refunds are easier. Ruth's brand is pushed out." On the Ruth's Store scenario, the same stick figure is looking at four of Ruth's shirt designs on her site. Text: "So many options! I'll get these." "Ruth gets four sales." On the bottom, two happy stick figures are wearing Ruth's shirts. Ruth looks happy. Text: "Ruth has brand recognition, returning customers, and is supported by sales due to her hard work."ALT
Text: "Amazon has done this before. Multiple times." An article from Reuters by Aditya Kalra and Steve Stecklow reads: "Amazon copied products and rigged search results to promote its own brands, documents show" Text: "Amazon is not supporting small businesses with this program, because Amazon considers small businesses to be competition. Whether it be knock-offs in India or undercutting similar products in the case of Diapers.com versus Amazon Mom." An article from Timothy B. Lee on Ars Technica reads: "Amazon knew it was bleeding Quidsy dry. An internal email later in September discussed the price cuts Quidsi was forced to make to compete with the new Amazon Mom discounts. "They expect to lose lots of money in the next few yrs," wrote executive Peter Krawiec. "This will make it worse."ALT
Text: "If you own a small business and have been affected by this AI-driven program: 1) Document your listings and how they are being displayed on Amazon 2) Email branddirect@amazon.com to get your products removed from the site 3) Consider adding policy to your web shop prohibiting third-party listings 4) Consider providing your information to @bobodesignstudio, who is collecting info on shops affected to bring forward to an IP attorney 5) Consider bringing forth a consumer complaint to your State Attorney General's OfficeALT
Text: "If you are a friend of small businesses and want to help: Get loud. As we put in complaints, join them and raise the volume. Reconsider your relationship with Amazon, and pivot to small business whenever you can. We're easy to support: a kind word, a tip in the jar, a share online, and certainly being angry on our behalf at massive tech behemoths who don't care if we can afford the cost of living as long as it makes their numbers go up. To be continued."ALT


My account is still blocked from searching/tags/etc on my business blog @foundfamilyadventurecrafts so I'm posting this here. There's something very bad happening with Small Business, Tech, and Amazon. What else is new?

Links:
Bobo Design Studio for Updates & Submitting Information

Arrows Aim Greenhouse + Chroma Rex are putting together a complaint with WA State Attorney General's Office + Templates for complaints / opt out

Articles:

Amazon's Buy For Me Information Page

Reuters Article

Ars Technica Article

Business Insider Article

friday-tea

Hey, that's us and a bunch of our friends! This whole thing SUCKS so bad and we're pissed. We've intentionally not listed our products on Amazon for the 15 years we've been in business. We're ready to join a class action lawsuit and kick some ass.

dreamingdormouse

Friday makes really good tea, both just by the flavors and as reflections of fandoms. I absolutely LOVE my Second Breakfast (hobbits) and General's Jasmine (Uncle Iroh).

Go check out the Friday Afternoon Tea website DIRECTLY if you want to support them - and if you, unlike me, are in Seattle, go visit the brick-and-mortar store!

And boycott Amazon.

theladysunami
edwordsmyth

"Friends outside of Minnesota please read. I'm sharing a post written by a personal friend and medical doctor:
Friends outside MN, you need to know what is happening here. Everyone knows that ICE shot and killed a woman here on Wednesday. But that’s not the only thing that’s going on:

  • ICE agents are cruising areas with immigrant-owned businesses, and kidnapping patrons and employees alike. Yesterday they abducted two US citizen employees at a suburban Target, one who was begging them to allow him to go get his passport to show them.
  • ICE is going door to door in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods, asking residents where their immigrant neighbors live. Read that again. If it sounds like something out of your high school history textbook, that’s because it is.
  • ICE is targeting schools and school buses. They pepper sprayed teenagers and abducted two school staff members at the high school up the street from me on Wednesday. Police are literally escorting school buses to ensure children can get to school and home safely. The Minneapolis Public Schools have moved to virtual learning for the next 4 weeks because it’s unsafe for children or teachers to physically come to school.
  • They are targeting hospitals and clinics. Patients are scared and are cancelling their appointments or just not showing up. Kids are missing their checkups and vaccines, folks aren’t getting their cancer care, etc.
  • They are smashing windows in cars and homes.
  • ICE is increasingly picking up Native Americans—again, targeting folks based on skin color alone.
  • They are arresting and beating legal observers. A friend of a friend had her arm broken yesterday. Folks are showing up at local hospitals, brought in in ICE custody, with severe injuries that are absolutely inconsistent with mechanism of injury reported by ICE. (Think: patient appears to have been beaten unconscious, while ICE agent says he slipped and fell.)
    I can’t emphasize enough that these ICE agents do not have warrants. There are 2,000+ agents here and they are simply hunting for anyone that’s not white. It doesn’t matter if you’re a citizen or a green card holder, they will kidnap you first and ask questions later.

    But the community is fighting back.
  • Protests are happening every day.
  • Community groups have been leading know-your-rights sessions for months, often to packed venues.
  • Whistles are being distributed by the thousands, carried on keychains and worn on coat zippers, always at the ready to be blown in warning if ICE is spotted.
  • Drivers are following ICE vehicles, blaring their horns in warning.
  • Businesses are locking their doors even while open to keep employees and customers safe. As I type this, I’m standing guard at the locked door of our neighborhood burrito joint while I wait for my takeout order, so the employees can focus on their jobs. The place is packed with neighbors supporting this small business.
  • Anti-ICE signs are posted everywhere. The community is making it crystal clear that ICE is not welcome here.
  • Parents and neighbors are standing guard outside schools, organizing carpools, and escorting kids to and from school on foot.
  • Parents of kids in Spanish-immersion daycare (there are a LOT of these daycares here!) are keeping their kids home so the teachers don’t have to take the risk of coming to work.
  • Churches and community groups are holding fundraisers to buy and deliver groceries to families who don’t feel safe leaving home.
  • Mutual aid money is going out to folks who can’t make rent because they can’t work or because a breadwinner was abducted, or who need a warm place to stay after their home’s windows were smashed.

    THAT is what is happening here. This fight is ongoing and it’s horrifying to watch. But we are not backing down. To my friends in other cities and states, don’t think for a minute that this won’t happen in your town. It will. Be ready. Learn from us, as we have learned from Portland and Chicago and New York. Fight back. Don’t let us get to the last line of Martin Niemoller’s poem.”

    -Grant Boulanger
bloodmoonlich

Here's an AP news brief with a little more info. It's limited in the way major news outlets are right now but provides context that supports the personal account shared.

khattikeri
foenixed

"Why would this character be jealous of their friend's romantic relationships? Clearly they're in love with them" I don't know if you guys have ever Had Friends but it's actually pretty common for people to feel jealous if their best friend suddenly has less time for them and is prioritising someone they just met over them. That's not inherently romantic, that's the general human desire to be valued by the people you value.

theladysunami
best-blurst-of-times

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ironbite4

Teachers have tried this and are amazed when their classes don’t go feral like in the book.  It’s almost as if the book was supposed to be satire and not a treaty on the nature of humanity.

thedarkbutbeige

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spaceshipoftheseus

there’s a timeskip

THERE’S A TIMESKIP

THERE’S A TIMESKIP

THERE’S A TIMESKIP

after losing control of the signal fire there’s a FUCKING TIMESKIP and when the next chapter starts everyone’s hair is several inches longer and their clothes have rotted to shreds and they’re still just kind of chilling!!!!

IT TAKES THE TERRIBLE IMPERIALISM MIND-POISONED EXCESSIVELY BRITISH BOYS IN THE ACTUAL BOOK SEVERAL MONTHS TO COMMIT A SINGLE ACT OF INTENTIONAL VIOLENCE, EVEN THE ONE (1) CHILD WRITTEN AS AN ACTUAL SOCIOPATH

AND then when they DO turn on each other it is because

THERE’S AN UNSPECIFIED WORLD WAR HAPPENING

AND A PILOT’S CORPSE CRASH LANDS ON THE ISLAND POST-DOGFIGHT AND THE CHILDREN MISTAKE THE PARACHUTE FOR A MONSTER AND SPIRAL INTO PARANOIA

BECAUSE CHILDREN INHERIT THE LEGACY AND TRAUMA OF VIOLENCE FROM THE ADULTS WAGING WAR AROUND THEM

HURR DURR IN THE REAL WORLD IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN LIKE IN LORD OF THE FLIES -

IT DIDN’T HAPPEN THAT WAY IN LORD OF THE FLIES EITHER YOU JUST HAVEN’T READ IT SINCE HIGH SCHOOL IF EVER AND DON’T REMEMBER WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THE GODDAMN BOOK

randomslasher

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mayfriend

#tbf the dude wrote it to be a dick

yes. yes he did. i’m also gonna direct you to the real life ‘lord of the flies’ which occured in the 1960s, when six tongan schoolboys got stranded on a desert island for over a year before being rescued by an australian fisherman (who, it should be noted, later took on all six as crewmembers because the reason they were out in the first place was because they wanted to see the world, and named his ship the Ata after the island they were stranded on). nobody died. the only injuries that occurred were accidental, and when one of the boys broke his leg falling down a cliff, the others braced it and looked after him so well that it healed perfectly. if they argued, then they would literally go to opposite sides of the island until they’d cooled off. after leaving the island, they remained friends for the rest of their lives. here’s a photo of them as adults, with their rescuer (who is third from the left) and other members of his crew.

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i read about this in rutger bregman’s human kind, a book i cannot recommend highly enough, but if you don’t want to go and read a whole book about the inherent goodness of humanity (which again, you really should) then the relevant excerpt can be found here.

limbobilbo

> sees nihilistic depiction of human nature

> looks inside

> hope :)

accidentallyoccidental

can someone give those flowers a spacesuit please

alocalpizzadruid

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:)

crowvaarts
galactic-mayhem

To all trans men on this site, im gonna put you onto something. If you are in need of a binder but have unsupportive parents or are closeted, if you have a fondness for the ocean, or if youre bored with the normal colors of binder available, go to Waterlust and get a top

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As you can see above, theyre all patterned like marine life, but theyre also reversible! One side has the pattern, the other is solid color, and they're all fun colors like blues and reds and greens, but some like the whale and tiger shark ones are more subtle grays and blacks. I have the whale shark one and the spongebob one (which was a limited run), and theyre both very well designed and printed. My spongebob one has served me for roughly four years and it hasn't worn at all.

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What really matters? The binding power, and these things are great. I'm a triple D cup and with a medium I look like I have subtle pecs. They're also much less compressive than other binders due to their materials (which are mostly recycled!), so you can wear them for longer without getting sore. When I did more intensive theater and band performances, I could still act, dance, and play bari sax without getting winded or hurting myself. They're also swim tops, and I've scuba dived in these as well comfortably.

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If that wasn't all, proceeds from each purchase are donated towards marine conservation and education initiatives! Purchasing shark printed ones specifically donate to shark studies and conservation orgs, parrotfish and coral prints support coral restoration initiatives, and so on. The high price tag is for a good reason.

Overall, if you're looking for an all around good binder, one that matches your whimsey and supports a good cause, Waterlust is the place to go.

daysleftofsecondterm

helpful on 1,110 days left

khattikeri
kominfyrirkattarnef

Have you guys noticed how much the internet/technology just does not listen to you anymore? I click “don’t show this artist” on Spotify and I get recommended a music video by them on the front page. I click “skip this update” on a pop up every time I open a file organization app and it’s right back there every time. I click unsubscribe on a newsletter and it keeps showing up in my inbox!! I click “delete my account” and the next time I open the website they suggest I “reactivate”.

dsudis
elminx

I’ve noticed some posts around about how you can’t romanticize your life during a fascist regime and while I deeply sympathize with this sentiment, I want you to try to understand that’s what they want you to believe.

Fascism thrives best in the cesspool of hopelessness. They want us so confused and hopeless that we give in. When you give in, you don’t fight back.

If you wait for life to look good to do the things that bring you joy; life will still be bad - you will just have less joy.

As someone who has struggled with my mental health a lot for the last thirty years, I know this struggle firsthand. And changing this belief system - the one where you spend all of your time expecting bad things so you won’t be surprised when they happen - it’s the hardest work that I have ever done. And I’m not perfect; I still have setbacks. I still experience really real fears about the state of the world and the US, in particular, because that’s where I live.

But I made a vow to myself that I will not let the choices of others ruin my life. When I made that vow, I was thinking of my parents - but it applies to the state of the government right now, too.

There are still flowers in my garden, and ripe tomatoes, and it’s almost pick-your-own apples season, and I have plans with my friends to go to as many cemetery ghost walks as we can find this October.

I still deserve to live. I still deserve to laugh. I still deserve to love. I still deserve to be as happy as I can be.

And you do, too.

yeahawvampire

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Dan Savage.

anarchistmemedistro

*gestures broadly at the resistance movements in europe during the last reich*

anarchistmemedistro

#if you let yourself forget happiness you will forget to fight #and what you are fighting for #you must practice happiness #build the skills for smiles #it can't exist in some far off barely imagined future #you need to bring it into the here and now #look around you #the world has enough tears has enough misery enough strife enough anger #can you ever say there is too much laughter? too many smiles? #if you want it for all make it for all #make someones day- make your own #practice happiness so you can recognize the paths too it #or you'll stay plodding along the same well worn road of misery that the fascists want to keep you onALT
m0tel6mxzzy

“Where there's hope, there's life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.”

— The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank

“One is responsible to life: It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return. One must negotiate this passage as nobly as possible, for the sake of those who are coming after us.”

— The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin