#product review scraping

[reviewgatorsusa]

Amazon is a global premier online shopping site with many products for sale and an almost limitless number of customer feedback. For businessmen and researchers, it can be like an encyclopedia with essential information to make the right decision when investing in a particular item or creating a product line.

As sellers fill up online stores with products, customers can be picky and easily switch between brands and items until they find exactly what they're looking for. What’s also interesting is that they are not very discreet about it; they will create posts to share their experiences with certain products and, quite often, write a review post to help people decide what to purchase next. This enables the clients to offer their views about the products that companies deal in and this will be an added advantage in that companies will improve their products depending on what the clients are saying. This blog will focus even deeper on how scraping is accomplished on product review scraping in one of the largest retail e-commerce websites, Amazon.

What is Amazon Review Scraping?

Web scraping amazon reviews, therefore, entails the process of automatically scraping and gathering reviews from the product page of Amazon using web scrape tools. This tool crawls through the code of the website, scans over the reviews, and extracts some of the pertinent information, such as the author of the review, the rating given by the author, the comment, and the date of entry of that comment. Not to mention it is very efficient to get a lot of opinions at once in one spot. Nonetheless, it’s important to understand that this tool must be used correctly and adhere to the guidelines posted by Amazon and pertinent laws to prevent any problems with the law and account termination.

Amazon Reviews scraping using Python involves the process of making requests to the review pages of the item, analyzing the structure of the page, and then extracting data such as the name of the reviewer, star ratings, and comments for that particular item. It is similar to training a computer to live within the Amazon website or interface and obtain review data apart from the manual input. In general, the given process is helpful in order to scrape Amazon product reviews to gain more data overall in less time.

How Does Amazon Review Scraping Helps Businesses?

Amazon review scraping involves using automated tools to collect customer reviews from Amazon product pages. This practice offers several benefits that can help businesses in various ways. Here’s a detailed explanation of Amazon product review scraping to boost business operations:

Product Improvement

Web scraping amazon reviews often mention specific problems or suggestions for products. Scraping these reviews lets businesses see common issues that need fixing. For instance, if several reviews mention that a blender’s motor is weak, the company can focus on making it stronger in the upcoming version.

Competitive Analysis

By also scraping reviews of competitors' products, businesses can learn what their competitors are doing well or poorly. Businesses can improve their own products by taking note of the mistakes made by competitors and applying those winning traits to their own products.

Sentiment Analysis

Analyzing the emotions and opinions expressed in reviews helps businesses understand how customers feel about their products. Positive sentiments can indicate what’s working well, while negative sentiments can signal areas that need improvement. This helps in quickly addressing any issues and maintaining customer satisfaction.

Enhanced Customer Service

Review data shows what problems customers frequently face. This information helps businesses provide better customer service by anticipating issues and creating improved how-to manuals. For example, if many reviews mention difficulties with assembly, the company can create clearer instructions or instructional videos.

Informed Marketing Strategies

Knowing what customers appreciate about a product helps businesses create better marketing messages by scraping Amazon reviews. For example, if reviews highlight that a product is particularly useful for families, the marketing team can emphasize this in their advertising campaigns.

Boosting Sales

Insights from Product Review Scraping can improve product descriptions by highlighting features and products that customers prefer. Dealing with negative reviews openly shows potential customers that the company appreciates their feedback, which might increase sales and build confidence.

Boosting Sales

Insights from Product Review Scraping can improve product descriptions by highlighting features and products that customers prefer. Dealing with negative reviews openly shows potential customers that the company appreciates their feedback, which might increase sales and build confidence.

Identifying Brand Advocates

Insights from Product Review Scraping can improve product descriptions by highlighting features and products that customers prefer. Dealing with negative reviews openly shows potential customers that the company appreciates their feedback, which might increase sales and build confidence.

Strategic Decision Making

Detailed review data provides valuable insights that help businesses make informed decisions. Whether deciding to launch a new product, discontinue a failing one, or enter a new market, review data provides evidence to support these choices.

Cost-Effective Data Collection

Automated Amazon review scraping tools can collect vast amounts of review data quickly and efficiently, saving time and resources compared to manual collection. As a result, businesses can focus less on collecting data and more on analyzing it.

In-Depth Market Research

By gathering a large number of customer reviews from automated tools that scrape Amazon product reviews, businesses can understand what customers like and dislike about their products. This information helps companies see trends and patterns in customer preferences. For example, if many customers praise a product's durability, the company knows that this is a strong selling point.

What is the Process of Amazon Review Scraping?

When you scrape Amazon product ratings and reviews, you’re essentially extracting large datasets of information about customer satisfaction, market trends, and product quality. But it is not as easy when doing web scraping for Amazon reviews because Amazon follows strict guidelines and safety measures.

Content Source https://www.reviewgators.com/how-to-scrape-amazon-product-reviews-behind-a-login.php

[iwebscrapingblogs]

Amazon Product Review Data Scraping | Scrape Amazon Product Review Data

In the vast ocean of e-commerce, Amazon stands as an undisputed titan, housing millions of products and catering to the needs of countless consumers worldwide. Amidst this plethora of offerings, product reviews serve as guiding stars, illuminating the path for prospective buyers. Harnessing the insights embedded within these reviews can provide businesses with a competitive edge, offering invaluable market intelligence and consumer sentiment analysis.

In the realm of data acquisition, web scraping emerges as a potent tool, empowering businesses to extract structured data from the labyrinthine expanse of the internet. When it comes to Amazon product review data scraping, this technique becomes particularly indispensable, enabling businesses to glean actionable insights from the vast repository of customer feedback.

Understanding Amazon Product Review Data Scraping

Amazon product review data scraping involves the automated extraction of reviews, ratings, and associated metadata from Amazon product pages. This process typically entails utilizing web scraping tools or custom scripts to navigate through product listings, access review sections, and extract relevant information systematically.

The Components of Amazon Product Review Data:

Review Text: The core content of the review, containing valuable insights, opinions, and feedback from customers regarding their experience with the product.

Rating: The numerical or star-based rating provided by the reviewer, offering a quick glimpse into the overall satisfaction level associated with the product.

Reviewer Information: Details such as the reviewer's username, profile information, and sometimes demographic data, which can be leveraged for segmentation and profiling purposes.

Review Date: The timestamp indicating when the review was posted, aiding in trend analysis and temporal assessment of product performance.

The Benefits of Amazon Product Review Data Scraping

1. Market Research and Competitive Analysis:

By systematically scraping Amazon product reviews, businesses can gain profound insights into market trends, consumer preferences, and competitor performance. Analyzing the sentiment expressed in reviews can unveil strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within the market landscape, guiding strategic decision-making processes.

2. Product Enhancement and Innovation:

Customer feedback serves as a treasure trove of suggestions and improvement opportunities. By aggregating and analyzing product reviews at scale, businesses can identify recurring themes, pain points, and feature requests, thus informing product enhancement strategies and fostering innovation.

3. Reputation Management:

Proactively monitoring and addressing customer feedback on Amazon can be instrumental in maintaining a positive brand image. Through sentiment analysis and sentiment-based alerts derived from scraped reviews, businesses can swiftly identify and mitigate potential reputation risks, thereby safeguarding brand equity.

4. Pricing and Promotion Strategies:

Analyzing Amazon product reviews can provide valuable insights into perceived product value, price sensitivity, and the effectiveness of promotional campaigns. By correlating review sentiments with pricing fluctuations and promotional activities, businesses can refine their pricing strategies and promotional tactics for optimal market positioning.

Ethical Considerations and Best Practices

While Amazon product review data scraping offers immense potential, it's crucial to approach it ethically and responsibly. Adhering to Amazon's terms of service and respecting user privacy are paramount. Businesses should also exercise caution to ensure compliance with relevant data protection regulations, such as the GDPR.

Moreover, the use of scraped data should be guided by principles of transparency and accountability. Clearly communicating data collection practices and obtaining consent whenever necessary fosters trust and credibility.

Conclusion

Amazon product review data scraping unlocks a wealth of opportunities for businesses seeking to gain a competitive edge in the dynamic e-commerce landscape. By harnessing the power of automated data extraction and analysis, businesses can unearth actionable insights, drive informed decision-making, and cultivate stronger relationships with their customers. However, it's imperative to approach data scraping with integrity, prioritizing ethical considerations and compliance with regulatory frameworks. Embraced judiciously, Amazon product review data scraping can be a catalyst for innovation, growth, and sustainable business success in the digital age.

[iwebdatascrape]

Etsy Product Data Scraping Services | Scrape Etsy Product Data

Leverage the benefit of our Etsy product data scraping services to efficiently scrape Etsy product data, encompassing essential details such as product titles, pricing information, and more.

know more:

[realdataapi1]

BestBuy Product Data Scraper | Scrape BestBuy Products Reviews, Prices

Use BestBuy Product Data Scraper to scrape BestBuy reviews, descriptions, and prices from the best BestBuy Product data scraping service provider in the UK, the USA, Canada, etc.

Know more >>

[actowiz-123]

Amazon Product Reviews & Ratings Scraper | Product Reviews & Ratings Scraping Tools

With Amazon scraper, extract Amazon products reviews. Use Product Reviews & Ratings Scraping Tools to scrape data like ratings, etc. in countries like USA, UK, UAE.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

FYI artists and writers: some info regarding tumblr's new "third-party sharing" (aka selling your content to OpenAI and Midjourney)

You may have already seen the post by @staff regarding third-party sharing and how to opt out. You may have also already seen various news articles discussing the matter.

But here's a little further clarity re some questions I had, and you may too. Caveat: Not all of this is on official tumblr pages, so it's possible things may change.

(1) "I heard they already have access to my data and it doesn't really matter if I opt out"

From the 404 article:

A new FAQ section we reviewed is titled “What happens when you opt out?” states “If you opt out from the start, we will block crawlers from accessing your content by adding your site on a disallowed list. If you change your mind later, we also plan to update any partners about people who newly opt-out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training.”

So please, go click that opt-out button.

(2) Some future user: "I've been away from tumblr for months, and I just heard about all this. I didn't opt out before, so does it make a difference anymore?"

Another internal document shows that, on February 23, an employee asked in a staff-only thread, “Do we have assurances that if a user opts out of their data being shared with third parties that our existing data partners will be notified of such a change and remove their data?” Andrew Spittle, Automattic’s head of AI replied: “We will notify existing partners on a regular basis about anyone who's opted out since the last time we provided a list. I want this to be an ongoing process where we regularly advocate for past content to be excluded based on current preferences. We will ask that content be deleted and removed from any future training runs. I believe partners will honor this based on our conversations with them to this point. I don't think they gain much overall by retaining it.”

It should make a difference! Go click that button.

(3) "I opted out, but my art posts have been reblogged by so many people, and I don't know if they all opted out. What does that mean for my stuff?"

This answer is actually on the support page for the toggle:

This option will prevent your blog's content, even when reblogged, from being shared with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models.

And some further clarification by the COO and a product manager:

zingring: A couple people from work have reached out to let me know that yes, it applies to reblogs of "don't scrape" content. If you opt out, your content is opted out, even in reblog form. cyle: yep, for reblogs, we're taking it so far as "if anybody in the reblog trail has opted out, all of the content in that reblog will be opted out", when a reblog could be scraped/shared.

So not only your reblogged posts, but anyone who contributed in a reblog (such as posts where someone has been inspired to draw fanart of the OP) will presumably be protected by your opt-out. (A good reason to opt out even if you yourself are not a creator.)

Furthermore, if you the OP were offline and didn't know about the opt-out, if someone contributed to a reblog and they are opted out, then your original work is also protected. (Which makes it very tempting to contribute "scrapeable content" now whenever I reblog from an abandoned/disused blog...)

(4) "What about deleted blogs? They can't opt out!"

I was told by someone (not official) that he read "deleted blogs are all opted-out by default". However, he didn't recall the source, and I can't find it, so I can't guarantee that info. If I get more details - like if/when tumblr puts up that FAQ as reported in the 404 article - I will add it here as soon as I can.

Edit, tumblr has updated their help page for the option to opt-out of third-party sharing! It now states:

The content which will not be shared with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models, includes: • Posts and reblogs of posts from blogs who have enabled the "Prevent third-party sharing" option. • Posts and reblogs of posts from deleted blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from password-protected blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from explicit blogs. • Posts and reblogs of posts from suspended/deactivated blogs. • Private posts. • Drafts. • Messages. • Asks and submissions which have not been publicly posted. • Post+ subscriber-only posts. • Explicit posts.

So no need to worry about your old deleted blogs that still have reblogs floating around. *\o/*

But for your existing blogs, please use the opt out option. And a reminder of how to opt out, under the cut:

The opt-out toggle is in Blog Settings, and please note you need to do it for each one of your blogs / sideblogs.

On dashboard, the toggle is at https://www.tumblr.com/settings/blog/blogname [replace "blogname" as applicable] down by Visibility:

For mobile, you need the most recent update of the app. (Android version 33.4.1.100, iOs version 33.4.) Then go to your blog tab (the little person icon), and then the gear icon for Settings, then click Visibility.

Again, if you have a sideblog, go back to the blog tab, switch to it, and go to settings again. Repeat as necessary.

If you do not have access to the newest version of the app for whatever reason, you can also log into tumblr in your mobile browser. Same URL as per desktop above, same location.

Note you do not need to change settings in both desktop and the app, just one is fine.

I hope this helps!

[actosoluions]

Walmart Product Reviews & Ratings Scraper | Scraping Tools

Use Walmart Product Reviews & Ratings Scraper to extract Walmart Product Reviews data. Use Scraping Tools to scrape reviews, ratings in countries like USA, UK, UAE

[satori-runa]

—The star of the night

Summary: In the middle of chaos, Reca chooses you, his assistant, to replace the actual actress.

Words: 2k

Tags: Fluff, slight comedy, mr reca being mr reca

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

In your lifetime, you'd never been anywhere more glamorous than Reca's movie set. It was a polished spectacle of wealth, fame, and sheer creative ambition concentrated in a single place.

The set was pristine. Everything from the polished equipment to the crew buzzing around the latest cutting-edge technology spoke of high-budget prowess. Reca had wrangled only the crème de la crème of actors, and the script itself was a masterpiece, lauded by critics before a single frame had even been shot. Naturally, it was no surprise when the man beside you, the very architect of this grandiose vision, let out an audible groan, throwing his head into his hands. He pulled them down his face in a gesture so theatrical it almost belonged on the screen itself.

"No, no, no." He groaned, his voice laced with overdramatic despair. “Not like this. This is supposed to be art. Art!” He gestured wildly at the set. “Any three-year-old could create such a display with macaroni!"

While you found yourself captivated by the scene's intricate design—each prop in perfect position, the textures, the layout of furniture—all meticulously assembled to support the vision of an unfolding narrative, Reca saw only flaws. In his eyes, it was a desecration of the perfection he had so painstakingly envisioned.

To him, everything was wrong. The lighting was lifeless, casting shadows that fell harshly across the actors’ faces, robbing them of the soft glamour he’d imagined. The music? A hollow echo that failed to evoke a single stirring of emotion, as far from evocative as a flat note played on a broken piano. And the actress—the poor, unknowing actress who, in any other setting, would be lauded for her skill—was, to Reca, nothing short of an abomination in this moment. His eyes were fixed on her, his lips pressed into a thin line as he shook his head.

“Does she even know her lines?” He muttered, mostly to himself, though you heard every word. “It’s as if she’s performing in a high school play, not…not this.” He ran his hands through his hair, pacing back and forth, his presence a cyclone of perfectionism.

For the past hour, Reca had been tearing every detail apart. The set he'd once raved about was now an "ill-matched mess." The weeks you'd spent booking this elusive location, the endless calls, the backup locations you’d scouted, and the rejections you’d faced until this one finally came through. The casting? The exhausting process of reviewing tapes, organizing callbacks, going through Reca's list of notes and opinions on each actress, often just to have him change his mind the next day. And that demo track? You’d pulled every string, barely scraping by deadlines, just to make sure everything was in perfect order for him.

And here you were, watching it all unravel with each of Reca’s sighs and exasperated mutterings. As he kept pacing, criticizing the lighting again and muttering that the entire production was in danger of "crumbling into mediocrity," you couldn’t help but let out a silent prayer. An aeon, a muse, a miracle—someone save me, you thought, raising your hands briefly to the heavens in a quiet display of surrender.

Because if Reca’s mood didn’t lighten, there was absolutely no way this movie was getting made today.

Just as you were silently pleading for an escape from this nightmare, Reca’s pacing came to an abrupt halt. His head snapped in your direction, and his gaze narrowed, a glint of sudden inspiration lighting up his face. You felt a jolt of dread. That look—oh, you knew it too well. It was the same look he had whenever he came up with one of his “brilliant” ideas, which, more often than not, meant you were in for another impossible task.

“You.” He said, pointing at you with a fervor that made you take a step back. “You’ll be perfect.”

You blinked, uncertain if he was joking. “Me?”

“Yes! You!” He clapped his hands together, excitement bubbling up in his eyes. “Don’t you see? You have everything this role needs. Raw energy, authenticity—a complete lack of…training! It’s fresh. It’s real!”

“Reca, I don’t think—”

“Nonsense!” He cut you off, waving your protests away. “You’re exactly what this film is missing! All this time, I was looking in the wrong places. These actresses…they’re too polished. Too practiced. They lack that something—that spark of untamed potential that you have.” He smiled, a bit maniacally, but you could tell he was deadly serious.

“But I’m just your assistant.” You stammered, feeling your face flush. “I don’t know the first thing about acting. I’d probably ruin the entire film!”

“No way.” He insisted, eyes blazing with enthusiasm as if he’d already envisioned you on the big screen. “Think about it! You’ve been here for the whole process, you know every detail. You’ve seen every scene in my head just as I see it. Who else could be better prepared?”

You opened your mouth to protest again, there was no one that had the same vision as him, but he was already motioning to the costume designer, barking orders to prepare an outfit for you. Any hint of hesitation had disappeared from his face. In his mind, you were already cast and rehearsed, the missing piece that would bring his vision to life.

The next thing you knew, you were being ushered into the dressing room, handed a costume, and given a rapid rundown of your character’s motivations—directly from Reca himself, who seemed thrilled beyond measure. Somewhere between his impassioned monologues and the mounting nervousness that took over you, you found yourself on the set, standing beneath the very lights he’d spent hours cursing.

And as the camera rolled, with Reca’s wide-eyed gaze fixed intently on you, you couldn’t shake the surreal feeling. You’d gone from assistant to lead actress in a single, unpredictable twist, and despite your inexperience, you found yourself saying the lines and stepping into the role…all under the watchful, eager eyes of a director who now thought you were the perfect star.

The set had quieted down, and the crew took a break, leaving only a few people around. Reca, still lingering near you after that intense practice, watched the others drift away before turning back to you with a small, thoughtful smile.

“Let’s run through it one more time, mon cherie.” He said, his voice softer now. “Off camera. Just us.” There was a vulnerability in his tone you hadn’t heard before—a subtle, unspoken invitation.

You nodded, though your heart was pounding again. With the equipment and the audience gone, the space between you felt strangely intimate, as if stepping outside the boundary of the roles you were supposed to be playing.

He took a steadying breath and stood before you, his gaze searching yours. “Close your eyes.” He said, his hand brushing yours. “Forget the lines, the lights. Just…feel it.”

You closed your eyes, letting his words sink in. You could feel the warmth of his presence, so close now that every brush of his hand seemed to linger, every movement deliberate. He guided you gently, his fingertips tracing the edges of your hand until your fingers were laced together, his touch grounding, even protective.

“Imagine…” he whispered, his voice soft and full of emotion, “Imagine there’s no one here but us. No cameras. No crew.”

You opened your eyes, and he was watching you, his gaze vulnerable and sincere in a way you hadn’t seen before. His expression held an emotion that was entirely unscripted—almost a question lingering in his eyes, as if he was daring you to step closer.

His hand moved to your face, fingertips lightly tracing your cheek. The way he looked at you was overwhelming, like he was seeing parts of you no one had ever seen before. It felt like he was letting you in, past the director, past the confident professional, to something real and deeply hidden.

“Just us.” He murmured, almost to himself, his thumb brushing along your cheekbone. His eyes softened, and he leaned closer, his breath warm against your skin. For a second, it felt like he might kiss you—not as part of a scene, not as an actor in a role, but as himself.

You swallowed, your own emotions swelling, breaking past the practiced distance of assistant and director. The way he looked at you, the way his touch lingered just a moment too long, felt impossibly real. It wasn’t just acting. Not anymore.

And in that shared silence, the line between character and reality blurred completely, leaving you wondering if maybe, just maybe, there was something there that neither of you had dared to speak aloud.

Your breath caught as Reca leaned in closer, his hand cradling your face with an intensity that made the world around you disappear. His gaze dropped to your lips, lingering there for a heartbeat that stretched on, filled with a tension so thick it felt like the air had turned electric. His thumb brushed gently across your cheek, and you felt your heart pounding, anticipation building with each passing second.

You closed your eyes, half-expecting, half-hoping for the kiss that seemed to hover right on the edge of happening. The moment felt impossibly fragile, a secret shared only between the two of you. And just as you felt him draw in that final breath…

He pulled back, a sudden spark lighting up his eyes, and he spun around, letting out a shout that shattered the delicate silence. “Yes! That’s it! THAT expression—exactly what we need!”

You blinked, still reeling, as he practically leapt away from you, his energy blazing. “Everyone!” He called out, his voice filled with exhilaration. “Get ready to film! Now, now, now! We have to capture this—she’s got the emotion perfect, it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for!”

The crew scrambled into action, quickly setting up cameras and adjusting lights as you stood there, frozen and feeling a little…lost. You watched him pace excitedly, giving orders and pointing out positions, his focus now on preparing the scene. Meanwhile, you felt your cheeks flush with the sudden realization that the almost-kiss hadn’t been what you thought at all.

You felt the warmth creeping up your cheeks, your heart still racing from the almost-kiss that had left you somewhere between flustered and bewildered. As the crew finished setting up, you broke into a grin, chuckling softly at the absurdity of it all. Reca had played you perfectly, swept you into the scene so thoroughly that, for a moment, you’d forgotten where the acting stopped and the real feelings began. You couldn’t help but shake your head, laughing at yourself.

Reca, seeing your smile, grinned back, clearly thrilled that he’d managed to get such an authentic reaction. “That’s the spirit!” he cheered, clapping his hands together in delight. “I knew you had it in you!”

“You know, Reca.” You said, trying to keep the teasing note in your voice light as you crossed your arms, “you played me well. Got me all caught up in the moment. Almost too well, actually.”

He tilted his head, eyes glinting with mischief. “Only did what any good director would do.” He replied, a playful edge in his tone.

You raised an eyebrow, feeling a spark of confidence as you leaned in just a little. “Well, maybe we should rehearse some more roles in private sometime.” You suggested, your smile turning slightly coy. “You know…just to pick up where you left me hanging.”

For the briefest second, he looked taken aback, his eyes widening as if surprised by your boldness. But then, that familiar grin returned, his gaze lingering on you with a newfound intensity that sent a shiver down your spine.

“Perhaps we will.” he said, his voice a touch lower, his gaze still locked on you. “Only if you think you can handle a bit more of my…methods.”

Your smile deepened, and you felt a thrill run through you. Maybe, just maybe, the line between acting and reality was thinner than you’d thought. And if Reca wanted to blur it a little more…well, you couldn’t say you’d mind.

[stjohnstarling]

Full text of article as follows:

Tumblr and Wordpress are preparing to sell user data to Midjourney and OpenAI, according to a source with internal knowledge about the deals and internal documentation referring to the deals. 

The exact types of data from each platform going to each company are not spelled out in documentation we’ve reviewed, but internal communications reviewed by 404 Media make clear that deals between Automattic, the platforms’ parent company, and OpenAI and Midjourney are imminent.

The internal documentation details a messy and controversial process within Tumblr itself. One internal post made by Cyle Gage, a product manager at Tumblr, states that a query made to prepare data for OpenAI and Midjourney compiled a huge number of user posts that it wasn’t supposed to. It is not clear from Gage’s post whether this data has already been sent to OpenAI and Midjourney, or whether Gage was detailing a process for scrubbing the data before it was to be sent. 

Gage wrote: 

“the way the data was queried for the initial data dump to Midjourney/OpenAI means we compiled a list of all tumblr’s public post content between 2014 and 2023, but also unfortunately it included, and should not have included:

private posts on public blogs

posts on deleted or suspended blogs

unanswered asks (normally these are not public until they’re answered)

private answers (these only show up to the receiver and are not public)

posts that are marked ‘explicit’ / NSFW / ‘mature’ by our more modern standards (this may not be a big deal, I don’t know)

content from premium partner blogs (special brand blogs like Apple’s former music blog, for example, who spent money with us on an ad campaign) that may have creative that doesn’t belong to us, and we don’t have the rights to share with this-parties; this one is kinda unknown to me, what deals are in place historically and what they should prevent us from doing.”

Gage’s post makes clear that engineers are working on compiling a list of post IDs that should not have been included, and that password-protected posts, DMs, and media flagged as CSAM and other community guidelines violations were not included.

Automattic plans to launch a new setting on Wednesday that will allow users to opt-out of data sharing with third parties, including AI companies, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, and internal documents. A new FAQ section we reviewed is titled “What happens when you opt out?” states that “If you opt out from the start, we will block crawlers from accessing your content by adding your site on a disallowed list. If you change your mind later, we also plan to update any partners about people who newly opt-out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training.” 

404 Media has asked Automattic how it accidentally compiled data that it shouldn’t share, and whether any of that content was shared with OpenAI. 404 Media asked Automattic about an imminent deal with Midjourney last week but did not hear back then, either. Instead of answering direct questions about these deals and the compiling of user data, Automattic sent a statement, which it posted publicly after this story was published, titled "Protecting User Choice." In it, Automattic promises that it's blocked AI crawlers from scraping its sites. The statement says, "We are also working directly with select AI companies as long as their plans align with what our community cares about: attribution, opt-outs, and control. Our partnerships will respect all opt-out settings. We also plan to take that a step further and regularly update any partners about people who newly opt out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training."

Another internal document shows that, on February 23, an employee asked in a staff-only thread, “Do we have assurances that if a user opts out of their data being shared with third parties that our existing data partners will be notified of such a change and remove their data?”

Andrew Spittle, Automattic’s head of AI replied: “We will notify existing partners on a regular basis about anyone who's opted out since the last time we provided a list. I want this to be an ongoing process where we regularly advocate for past content to be excluded based on current preferences. We will ask that content be deleted and removed from any future training runs. I believepartners will honor this based on our conversations with them to this point. I don't think they gain much overall by retaining it.” Automattic did not respond to a question from 404 Media about whether it could guarantee that people who opt out will have their data deleted retroactively.

News about a deal between Tumblr and Midjourney has been rumored and speculated about on Tumblr for the last week. Someone claiming to be a former Tumblr employee announced in a Tumblr blog post that the platform was working on a deal with Midjourney, and the rumor made it onto Blind, an app for verified employees of companies to anonymously discuss their jobs. 404 Media has seen the Blind posts, in which what seems like an Automattic employee says, “I'm not sure why some of you are getting worked up or worried about this. It's totally legal, and sharing it publicly is perfectly fine since it's right there in the terms & conditions. So, go ahead and spread the word as much as you can with your friends and tech journalists, it's totally fine.”

Separately, 404 Media viewed a public, now-deleted post by Gage, the product manager, where he said that he was deleting all of his images off of Tumblr, and would be putting them on his personal website. A still-live postsays, “i've deleted my photography from tumblr and will be moving it slowly but surely over to cylegage.com, which i'm building into a photography portfolio that i can control end-to-end.” At one point last week, his personal website had a specific note stating that he did not consent to AI scraping of his images. Gage’s original post has been deleted, and his website is now a blank page that just reads “Cyle.” Gage did not respond to a request for comment from 404 Media. 

Several online platforms have made similar deals with AI companies recently, including Reddit, which entered into an AI content licensing deal with Google and said in its SEC filing last week that it’s “in the early stages of monetizing [its] user base” by training AI on users’ posts. Last year, Shutterstock signed a six year deal with OpenAI to provide training data.

OpenAI and Midjourney did not respond to requests for comment. 

Updated 4:05 p.m. EST with a statement from Automattic.

[dangans-ur-ronpas]

Chapter 26

PLEASEEEEEE NOTE: this is a Maturity rating chapter. heed the content warnings below etc etc

SEE HERE FOR GENERAL WARNINGS AND FIC SUMMARY

Some pre-chapter notes:

this one was supposed to be merged with chap 25 but it was getting long and i felt like this motive reveal chapter should be isolated anyways

one day i will write a full thing about fucking nasty style and post that online without the 25 chapters of leadup

ty @digitaldollsworld for the peer review and validating me specifically :)

Content warning tags: blood, physical violence/roughhousing, biting, making out (while bloodied. mild bloodplay?), mildly dubious consent becoming unspoken consent given enthusiastically becoming dubious consent again, coitus interruptus, mild (nonsexual) breathplay, murder plot suggestion, unhealthy relationship dynamics...Please let me know if there's anything I'm missing

< previous - from start - next >

To his surprise, they don’t continue on the same path together.

Instead, they split, with Kirigiri walking towards the stairs, and Makoto in the opposite direction. Without exchanging words, or even a glance.

It gives him pause for a moment, but the choice is ultimately easy. Kirigiri, for all her mysteriousness, does not seem like the kind to be swayed by money, or most other things for that matter, and would certainly not hesitate to point out his current state. He goes after Makoto instead, trailing him some steps behind into the supply room.

The place is the same as ever - stacked with materials, shelves crammed snug with crates of all sizes, and with the air disconcertingly clean and free of dust, as if Monokuma vacuumed every day - and the overhead lights hum and buzz, glowing with an insufficient yellow light. Makoto is crouched near the far wall, over a box on a bottom shelf. Byakuya approaches, making no effort to conceal himself.

For a moment, neither of them say a word. Makoto continues to rummage, and Byakuya simply watches, arms crossed, waiting patiently as the silence stretches to minutes. 

Finally, Makoto turns over his shoulder. “Uh…hi?” He doesn’t sound startled or surprised by Byakuya’s presence, but more bewildered by it than anything. “Do you need something?”

Somehow, it doesn’t sound sarcastic or spiteful. On the other hand, he sounds so genuine that it dissipates any tension that might’ve been in the air. Byakuya sighs, a little exasperated, but less bothered than he thought he should be.

He was going to ask what Makoto’s feelings were about the motive reveal, but suddenly the atmosphere is all wrong for it, and such a conversation feels too exhausting to have now. “What are you doing?” He asks instead.

“I’m…” Makoto trails off, turning back to look into the box. “...Looking for something.”

“Yes, I gathered that much.” He rolls his eyes, and steps nearer. Even standing right behind him, it was impossible to determine the exact contents of the box just by looking, and he didn’t remember the exact locations where all the products were stored either. “I’m blind, not stupid.”

And he blinks, surprised by what he just said; that hadn’t been the snide remark he wanted to make. It feels like it should have been harder to say, and yet the words had left his mouth easily, like he’d been waiting to finally say it for himself. Makoto startles a bit, just as taken aback by the admission as he.

“I…” Makoto starts, then looks back down. “Uh, yeah. Sorry.” 

The response is so meek it’s annoying, and not the kind of answer he was wanting from someone who had been sneakily butting into his life the past few days, and he scowls. Whatever light-heartedness had been previously present was now slipping quickly away into irritation. “I don’t need your pointless scraping. What are you looking for?”

Makoto doesn’t answer. Rather, he continues to dig through the box, acting as if he hadn’t heard Byakuya’s question at all; a complete reversal from the previous sheepish, meaningless apologizing. It’s almost jarring, if it wasn’t also something entirely infuriating - he couldn’t remember the last time someone had the gall to ignore him, other than his father - and Byakuya childishly aims a kick at his shin. “Answer me.”

“Ow,” He says instead, unconvincingly. “Okay, okay, um. Do you promise not to get mad?”

“I’m going to be even angrier if you keep talking in circles.” He snaps, the last threads of his patience thinning. “I know for a fact that you’re not this wimpish, so speak up.”

Even despite the demand, Makoto is silent a little moment longer, rummaging still. Byakuya is about to kick him again, when he stands up, a tiny, blue box clutched in his hand.

“You, uh…you were shaving this morning, right?” He takes a deep breath, then holds the box out. “You’ve got a little blood here-” And he taps a finger against his cheek, somewhere below his ear; Byakuya mirrors the movement, reaching up to feel that thin line of roughness, the scab tugging at the skin. “And…I remembered my dad gave me this brand of razor, it’s really easy to use-”

Byakuya smacks the thing out of his hands before he can even finish speaking, sending it spinning across the floor, beneath some other shelf.

For a moment, the two of them stand there, stock still. Byakuya can feel his pulse thrumming in his ears, throbbing against his eardrums; he’s not sure which of them is more shocked, to be honest. Makoto’s hand is still partially outstretched, now empty.

Then: “What the hell is your problem?!” Makoto demands, instantaneous and loud and cracked with a slight note of hysteria. The sound bounces tinnily between the metal shelving units, before being swallowed into the wooden surfaces of the crates.

“What is your problem?” Byakuya shoots back, just as furious. “How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t want your pity?”

“It’s not pity if I’m trying to keep you alive,” Makoto grabs his arm, shoving it upwards. His hand is nowhere big enough to wrap around it, but the grip is tight anyways, fingers digging into the hollow junction of his wrist. “You barely eat, you don’t talk to anyone-”

“I’m trying to keep myself safe-”

“That’s shit, that’s bullshit. You look,” He breaks to breathe, to laugh, and his grip tightens, grinding the bones. “You look like such shit, and it’s not even hard to tell. It’s so obvious that you’re trying to hide it but you can’t, and everyone can see that you’re falling apart and it’s so pathetic but you won’t let anyone get close enough to tell you that -” He’s shaking, or maybe that’s Byakuya himself. “Just-”

And falls silent - no, not entirely silent. Byakuya can hear his uneven breathing, the quiet squeaks in his throat. Stifling the sound of his crying, still only just audible over the hum and clanks of the building’s internals, and the ring in his own ears.

Why was he crying? The thought is fleeting, and should have just been a blip in everything else. “I am not,” He starts, and the latter half of that sentence never even becomes coherent in his own mind.

Instead, he tries to wrench his hand backwards and away from Makoto’s grip, and Makoto just follows him, pushing him, until his back meets the hard, uneven edges of a shelving unit, digging into his shoulders.

“You are, you so are,” Makoto wheezes. His hand shakes violently, but Byakuya still can’t break out of it; his wrist is being pinned to the metal frame, the cold surface a shock against his skin. “You - fuck, you can’t even take care of yourself. You try to act so cool but you’re so helpless it’s lame. You’re trying so hard to predict where the next threat is coming from but your biggest threat is yourself. You can’t even see what’s happening around you, so you don’t even try to find out - I just -”

And he stops, taking another deep, shaky breath, head dipping down until his forehead rests against Byakuya’s collarbone. His other hand is bracing the edge of a shelf, next to Byakuya’s hip, and Byakuya can feel it by sheer proximity, the warmth bleeding impossibly through the layers of Makoto’s jacket and his own thin shirt.

He-

should say something. Anger and indignation boils in his gut, how dare Makoto say such things? Who gave him the right? Didn’t he know who Byakuya was?

But-

what can he say, when it feels like he’s suddenly been struck stupid. Like he’s a child again facing his first real defeat at the hand of one of his siblings’s lackeys, kneeling with scraped knees weeping blood into his pants as he’s being taunted, the words hysteric and victorious. Like he’s trying to argue with Kirigiri, but she’s already had the last word and is simply walking away.

So he resorts to the same answer he had the first time he was forced to concede to one of his siblings, and kicks Makoto in the shin.

It’s not a very strong blow. Caged in against the shelf as he is, he doesn’t have enough space to pull back very far; but it makes Makoto grunt, surprised, and his hold loosens. Byakuya shoves him backwards, and glances to his side, where the white light spilling from the open door marks the exit.

He could leave. He doubts Makoto could catch him if he ran seriously. But his legs refuse to move; it would feel too much like conceding. He’s been losing too much these past few days to forfeit again, now.

Makoto is standing in front of him, the overhead lights above providing just enough illumination for Byakuya to make out the location of his nose, the curve of his brow, and in the split second before he can do anything Byakuya reaches out. One hand snags fingertips into Makoto’s hood. The other grabs his face, slotting his chin almost tenderly into the space between forefinger and thumb.

The effect is instantaneous, Makoto’s cheeks heating beneath his fingertips. “Hey, wh-”

Byakuya feels his face pull, an undignified baring of teeth that’s barely reminiscent of a smile, before he drags Makoto forward and knees him in the gut.

He prefers more dignified solutions to things, but violence is the most universally understood language, and he can admit to its usefulness when the need calls. Like now, as Makoto wheezes, bent over, his hands clutching unsteadily in Byakuya’s shirt to keep himself upright.

This is how it should be, he thinks, as he looks down at the crown of Makoto’s head with a twisted sense of triumph. It hardly lasts long before Makoto’s moving again with an animalistic growl, fingers twisting so tightly Byakuya can feel some threads snap in his shirt, before he’s shoved backwards with a rattling clang against the shelves.

It’s hardly enough to stun him, but he winces anyway, at the metal frame digging between his shoulder blades. Far more effective, is what comes next - Makoto sways, resting his forehead against Byakuya’s chest - before surging upwards, colliding the top of head against his nose.

The taste of copper is an afterthought to the sharp, explosive burst of pain. Byakuya screams - snarls - with it, blood tracking a hot line down his upper lip, stinging against raw skin. He sinks his hands into Makoto’s hair, and yanks roughly, trying to drag him off.

It’s unsuccessful. He doesn’t have the strength in his arms to move the weight of another teenage male, but it’s not wholly ineffective either. He hears a sharp intake of breath, and he’s managed to drag Makoto’s head backwards enough to see his face.

A face that, even in the dim yellow light of the supply room, is flushed darker than usual. And with eyes that are blown wide, the blotted shape of iris-pupils very, very dark against the whites.

It takes a moment for him to put together what that means through the haze, before Makoto’s hands are resituating themselves in Byakuya’s shirt collar, and yanking him down to - kiss him.

He freezes for a moment, mind once again going utterly blank. It’s nothing more than a hard press of lips, almost far too innocent compared to their previous state. Makoto’s lips are warm and slightly chapped, and sliding slightly against his as he smears the blood over his mouth.

It continues for a long moment, the two of them frozen in place, until Byakuya realizes that Makoto was beginning to pull away, his hold loosening; willingly seceding control over, meek again, and anger works its way up in Byakuya’s skull, spiking sharp and precise through the delirium.

He twists his hands, fingers tightening in the locks of Makoto’s hair, and forces him still, bowing his head down to bite at the seam of Makoto’s mouth with all the composure of a starving dog, smearing blood, tongue and teeth snagging in the cracked skin of his lips.

He pulls away just enough to grin, savagely, at the sight of Makoto with a vividly dark slice staining across his mouth. “That is how you kiss someone,” He whispers, with something dark and self-satisfied curling in his gut.

The only response Makoto gives is a low, almost inhuman sound, before he’s being yanked down again.

There’s nothing chaste about it this time. Rather, it’s more like a continuation of their fight, biting, clacking teeth, hands scrabbling and grasping for purchase. Makoto matches his every move with the same exact vigor, and Byakuya tastes salt and hot metal and the over-sweet sourness of energy drinks and laughs into the kiss, breathless and triumphant at Makoto’s desperation, the feeling of hands dragging down his sides, even as he claws back, trying to drag him nearer, nails raking across the thick fabric of his blazer, down his back, over his arms. In turn, Makoto licks into his mouth, tonguing hotly over his canines, the soft roof of his palate.

Disgusting. Byakuya shudders, and lets his jaw slacken just a little more.

He feels his back beginning to slide, uncomfortably, down the frame. It’s both an annoyance and a relief - the previous angle was killing his neck - but then Makoto leans forward, weight pressing against him, sandwiching him there, and digging his spine painfully against the hard juts of the shelves.

Byakuya half-thinks to scold him for that, but at the same time, Makoto is sliding his leg between his thighs, propping him up, and the reprimand turns into a groan instead, breathy and desperate and far too loud in the solitude of the supply room.

He jerks back, suddenly self-aware again, face flushed to burning. This was - he feels his head swimming, self-appalled, rivaling the temptation to sink down a little lower, lean into the hands that are now feeling clumsily up his ribcage - utterly unbecoming of him. To give into such base temptations-

Ever persistent and apparently undeterred by the absence of his mouth, Makoto leans forward and presses his teeth to the side of Byakuya’s neck instead, and the rest of Byakuya’s coherent thoughts try to fly out with those thin, pinprick-sharp flares of pain.

“Idiot,” He still manages to hiss, even as he gives in and grinds down, against a sweet pressure that makes everything feel so - indescribably - “Bastard, you pathetic little-”

Talking was getting troublesome. He presses his hands against Makoto’s cheeks, feeling a small thrill of victory when he feels his thumbs brush the corner of his lips on the first try, and kisses him again, feeling dizzy with it.

His hands shift, seeking out better purchase in Makoto’s hood, knuckles pressing against the warm, jumping muscles in his neck, the other sinking into his hair again. This time more to keep himself upright as Makoto was apparently trying to bite his tongue off - and that thought really shouldn’t be doing anything for Byakuya, and yet -

Tap, tap. Tap.

“Makoto,” He gasps, whines, managing to pull himself away once more. This time grabbing onto Makoto’s face and pushing him backwards like an undisciplined, overeager dog - the other boy struggles for a moment, pushing back against his hands - “Wait, just - calm down, you - do you hear that?”

It takes a moment for Makoto to respond. “Wh-huh?” He manages, somewhat incoherently, which Byakuya…supposes, is reasonable. They’re still pressed against each other, and Byakuya can still feel something pressing against his thigh, which he tries very hard to ignore, in favor of concentrating hard.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

It doesn’t sound like it was coming from the hallways. But it couldn’t be the heating or piping in the walls either; it was too soft, and…too dynamic, too purposeful, for that. He cranes his head over his shoulder, but the only thing behind him was the shelf, some boxes, and the flat, gray expanse of the wall.

Tap. Tap, tap, taptaptap-

The sound rises to a sudden crescendo, speeding behind him. Almost reflexively, he shoves away from the shelf, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Makoto lands on his back with a grunt, and Byakuya lands nearly on top of him, before scrabbling backwards until his back meets the shelf, self-awareness shattering his earlier insanity.

Makoto is staring at him, face still flushed and dazed. “Hey, what was-?”

“Awahwahwah!? Kyahh!!”

They jerk their heads in unison, turning to find a short, round, oblong shape standing in the doorway. Monokuma stands there with face covered by paws, squealing. “C-c-could this be?! The fabled, mythical, super-ultra-sexy-secret-rendezvous I heard about from the headmaster’s handbook?! Wah! My eyes!! My untainted, honest, adorable teddy-button eyes!!!”

“Shut up!” Byakuya snaps, voice far too high-pitched to not be damning, despite his best attempts to calm down. He surreptitiously turns away from the door, and can see Makoto doing something similar out of the corner of his eye, tucking his knees up close to his chest. Monokuma shakes, either from laughter or phony horror.

“Oh, there’s no need to worry, Young Master Byakuya. I’m a very progressive bear, after all!” It nods emphatically, and Byakuya grits his teeth at the derisive use of the title. “After all, I am your headmaster, and I want this place to be all sweet and accepting of all my students! You can talk to your classmates about it at this seminar I’m planning-”

“Get out of here.” Makoto rasps, voice still rough and a little unsteady. He sounds downright furious, more so than Byakuya remembers ever hearing him. “It wasn’t- It wasn’t like that.”

“Oh-ho? T’wasn’t it?” Monokuma tilts its head, and toddles over with squeaky footsteps. “Well then, what did happen? Because it certainly looked to me like I just blue-beared you two!” And it cackles hysterically at its own joke, the sound grating and echoing between the shelves.

“He-” Makoto’s sneakers scrape against the floor as he shifts, hesitating. “He was- trying to…trying to kill me.”

And even through the rising haze of fury, panic, and nauseating shame, Byakuya’s thoughts grind to a sudden halt.

“What?” He says aloud, at the same time as Monokuma squeals with apparent delight, drowning him out entirely.

“Oh, oh! Is that so?” And it rounds on him, all of a sudden far too close for comfort, his vision divided white and black. “Tell me, is this true? What was the weapon? What was the plan? Oh, it’s a shame I interrupted, so now I gotta make up for the lost opportunity! Spill the deets!”

So none of it had meant anything. Their pathetic, awkward fumbling in the dark, his brief delusion of control, had only amounted to this. Back to being humiliated and shamed by a grinning, faceless mastermind, and with no more authority over himself as he did before, as Makoto was trying to save him. Again.

He kicks Monokuma away, sending it spinning with a yelp into one of the shelves, and bolts from the room. Makoto is shouting after him, and soon there are footsteps dogging at his heels, but he makes it all the way back to his bedroom before Makoto catches up to him as he’s trying to unlock the door.

He narrowly makes it inside, tries to swing the door shut but it bounces off of Makoto’s shoe, jammed in just in time - and he’d wince in sympathy, or mull in the dejá vu of it, if he wasn’t currently trying to tamp down his own swell of emotions, nearing to breaking through his thinly held-together composure.

“Why did you say that,” He spits through clenched teeth. Too exhausted to try and force him out, too angry to just ignore him. “Of all the stupid, useless lies to come up with, you had to choose one that made me look even more pathetic?!”

“What were you going to say, then,” Makoto shoots back, just as irritated. “Was there anything more plausible that would’ve been better for you than ‘we were making out in the closet’?!”

He doesn’t bother to reply. Because no, that was the most believable thing Makoto could have said, which was why he was so furious now. There was the logical setting, an established motive - the set-up for a cheap, impassioned crime, with no thought or grace behind it. 

If he had said it himself, he might have barely been able to salvage his own pride. But having to be defended by his own so-called ‘victim’, having to be saved by Makoto again-

He sits down heavily on the bed, rubbing his temples. “Just leave, Makoto.” He sighs, eyes screwed shut. He’s too tired for this, and would rather try and sleep and forget it all. Or break down, which was beginning to feel like a very real possibility, which he’d rather do in the privacy of his own room anyways.

But instead of leaving, Makoto drops down to the floor with a thump, directly in front of him. “I’m not leaving until you go eat something.” He says, stubbornly, apparently recalling his entire original purpose of trying to bully him into codependency.

I was hoping he would’ve forgotten that. Byakuya feels a pulse throb beneath his fingertips, exasperation pushing through the rising fog of panic. “Must we do this now?”

“If I don’t, you’re going to ignore and avoid me and everyone else again, right?” He could almost hear the teasing smile tugging at the corner of Makoto’s mouth. “But, um. I mean. If you don’t want to talk, we could…you know…”

It takes a moment to identify exactly what he’s suggesting, but the disbelieving laugh that escapes Byakuya’s mouth is entirely unintentional, the panic miraculously dissipating in the same breath. “You can’t be serious.”

“I-I mean-! I’m totally okay if you don’t want to, I just thought…” Makoto trails off with a cough. “I…it was kind of a joke. Um- but you were enjoying it too, right?” There’s a thin note of hesitance in his voice.

Byakuya sighs. “...Yes. Unfortunately so.” Enough that if he thinks too much on it, he’ll become aware of the buzzing still lingering in his lips and the feeling of warmth beneath his hands, the low throb in his nose where the bleeding had only just stopped, and there was no good way that particular thought process was going to end. He’d almost prefer the impending anxiety attack to this.

“O-oh, okay. Cool. That’s cool.” Makoto rocks a little bit. “So…”

“I’m not having sex with you right now.” He deadpans, and Makoto has the gall to blush sheepishly, as if he weren’t the one making the suggestion in the first place.

“Right. Yeah, of course.” He scratches his head with a quiet laugh. “We…kinda took it a little fast, huh?”

That was an understatement. And he raises a hand over his face, trying to hide the heat rising beneath his fingers…much of what had happened was mostly due to his own actions. “Well, it’s not like we are in a situation where we could have a normal progression of things.”

“I don’t know, we have a pretty good kitchen. I would’ve liked to make you dinner first, or something.”

“How romantic. Forgive me if the idea of a school cafeteria meal doesn’t sweep me off my feet.”

“You won’t know if you don’t try it. I can make a pretty good omelet on a good day…if you’re okay with that.” The lilting invitation is clear, and Byakuya snorts.

“I should’ve murdered you in front of Monokuma.” He deadpans back.

Now it was Makoto’s turn to chuckle, a soft, surprised ‘ha!’ that makes Byakuya smile wholly inadvertently.

“Yeah, probably,” He agrees. “Did you want to?”

The smile slides off his face instantly. It sounds like Makoto is joking, but - it’s hard to tell. So hard to tell without being able to see if he’s smiling, if the easy tone of his voice matches his face.

“Do you want to?” He asks again, voice softer, serious.

Probably not a joke, then. He laces his fingers tightly, tight enough for his joints to ache, pressing the knuckles to his chin. “It hadn’t…crossed my mind.” Not seriously, at least. And not since the last trial.

But he could. There was no deal to uphold, not anymore. And Makoto - 

“Why are you asking?” He looks up for the first time, at Makoto, sitting cross-legged on his carpet. Staring back at him. “Surely you don’t want to die?”

Makoto doesn’t reply, his face still curiously, infuriatingly blank.

Everything that had been previously cleared comes rushing back, fury and disbelief and - anxiety, of all things, a painful, welling lump of it rising up his gullet - and before he knows it, he’s on the ground, kneeling across from Makoto with his hands around his neck.

The skin is warm. Shockingly soft, slightly tacky with sweat. The pressure isn’t enough to cut off airflow - his hands are only just resting against his throat - but Byakuya flexes his thumbs lightly, feeling the shape of his Adam’s apple beneath his fingers, his pulse beneath his palms.

And the whole time, Makoto makes no move to push him off. He had twitched, maybe, surprised at first, but that was all, now frozen stock-still - no, he was relaxing into the touch, muscles going purposefully slack as his shoulders slump.

“...What are you doing.” He whispers. Tenses his fingers, feels the breath hitch. “I could kill you right now. Why aren’t you stopping me?” Takes a deep, shuddering breath as he feels his voice begin to break. “Don’t tell me you actually want to die here!”

Makoto’s mouth is a dark cavern as he opens it to respond. “I don’t. Of course I don’t.” His voice wheezes slightly. “But if it’s you… I’d rather it be you than anyone else.”

Byakuya feels his hands shake. This was too much, all of it too much - he hadn’t even concluded how he felt about Makoto yet, not coherently - and apparently, in the time he’d spent in self-isolation, something had become twisted. The most mundane person here had become wholly insane. For his sake.

I must be insane too, he thinks, for the tiny, irrational thrill of joy that runs through him at that realization.

He jerks when he feels hands resting over his, fingers tracing delicately over the fine lines of his knuckles, the hollow of his wrist. Keeping his grip steady.

“I don’t think you will, though,” Makoto continues. “You don’t really want to kill anyone. You would’ve done it already if you did.”

“Don’t act like you know me.” He grits, grip spasming, torn between removing himself from Makoto and throttling him to shut him up. “You know perfectly well there’s a difference between intent and capabilities.”

Makoto takes a shaky, raspy breath. A slash of white pulls across his face. “Then are you gonna prove me wrong?”

Byakuya hesitates for too long. In that time, the hands that rest over his pull and then press, and he flinches as his palms fully meet Makoto’s neck, almost icily cool against the clamminess of his own skin. He yanks them backwards like he’d been burned, too shocked to even scold him for - for any of it. Too flustered to wonder if he even could.

His hands shake, still, even when he clenches them into fists with his nails biting into his palms, pressing into his knees.

Makoto coughs once, massaging his neck, before he stands up slowly.

“Let’s go,” He says, still smiling as he offers up a hand. “I’ll make you an omelet.”

< previous - from start - next >

[psychic-refugee]

I find a lot about the production of the Wednesday novelization odd.

One, the author’s name is not prominent and feels almost hidden.

Here are some examples of novelizations of popular IP that were television series/film first and foremost.

The authors are all on the cover and their names prominent. I can easily find who the author is. Even with the last pic where the name is the smallest and at the bottom, it's still on the cover.

Here is the front, back, and back inner jacket of the novelization.

Mejia’s name is nowhere to be found on the front. There is plenty of room to put their name without obscuring the art. They purposefully did not put their name.

On the back, Mejia’s name is the same size print as everything else and isn’t the center focus. The eyeline is more drawn towards the writers of the series rather than who wrote the novel.

Mejia has no author bio pic nor any bio information where it might normally go. Inside the cover jacket, they chose to have a blurb about the series rather than showcase the author.

Again, it feels like they’re hiding who the author is. Why?

Secondly, here are some examples of Netflix original shows that have novels. These are some of their most popular IP they have association with via the shows. All of them have that “Netflix Original” seal.

Normally I hate this as it wrecks the cover art, but it’s never stopped Netflix from all but pissing on everything they can associate their name with.

Why no seal for this novelization? There’s literally no mention of Netflix at all.

This to me suggests Netflix was not involved AT ALL. I don’t think anyone at Netflix was collaborating on this. I think this is a pure licensing deal, where Random House paid MGM to be able to use the characters.

Thirdly, and I find most baffling, is the total lack of promo.

Random House has several IG accounts, NONE of them have promo’d this book.

@randomhouse @randomhousekids @penguinrandomhouse

How can such a popular series have ZERO mention anywhere? How is it even the publisher doesn’t want to promo this book?

Even the author themselves half arsed promo’d the book. One post and it’s lukewarm at best? With only 130ish comments? That’s like nothing for a fandom of Wednesday’s size.

The Netflix writers haven’t mentioned it which suggests zero involvement. Netflix doesn't even want their name on it.

Jenna and Emma haven’t mentioned it or acknowledge it in any way, despite their supposed championing wenclair.

There are no professional reviews of it anywhere. Did they not send out advanced copies? Or were all of the reviews terrible and they scraped it?

Even the Wednesday Netflix account hasn’t mentioned it. Rather than promo the book, they chose to promo Lego instead.

Are they all embarrassed about this novel and hope it goes away quickly?

I know the book is hot garbage, but I’m in the fandom. The fans are supposed to have mixed reviews.

The publisher and network shouldn’t be treating the book and the author as a dirty little secret.

This book has literally no support from anyone. Not even the people who have a vested monetary interest in the novel.

This is so weird.

[reviewgatorsusa]

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What is Product Review Scraping?

The process of scraping product reviews involves collecting data from various internet sources, including e-commerce websites, forums, social media, and review platforms. Product review scraping can be compared to having a virtual robot that navigates through the internet to gather various opinions on different products from people. Picture yourself in the market for a new phone, seeking opinions from others before making a purchase. Instead of reading every review yourself, you can use a tool or program to do it for you.

The task requires checking multiple websites, such as Amazon or Best Buy, to collect user reviews and compile all comments and ratings for the particular phone. It's kind of like having a super-fast reader that can read thousands of reviews in a very short time. Once all the reviews are collected, you can compare them to see if people generally like the phone or if there are common complaints. For example, lots of people say the battery life is great, but some complain about the camera quality. This method eliminates the need to read through each review individually to determine which features of the product are great and which ones are not so great.

Tools to Scrape Product Reviews

These Python programs make it easy to gather product evaluations from numerous websites, allowing businesses to gain valuable insights from client feedback. Choosing the best instrument is determined by your requirements and preferences, as each has distinct strengths and purposes.

The popular Python tools for scraping product reviews are:

Beautiful Soup

It's like having a magic tool that helps you read and understand web pages. With Beautiful Soup, you can easily find and collect information from websites, making it the best tool for scraping product reviews from ecommerce websites.

Scrapy

Scrapy acts as a super-fast spider that crawls through websites to collect data. It is ideal for scraping product evaluations from several websites because it can handle large amounts of web pages and extract the information you want.

Selenium

Selenium is like a virtual robot that can click on buttons, fill out forms, and interact with websites just like a natural person would. This makes it handy to extract product evaluations from websites that make extensive use of advanced technologies like JavaScript.

Requests-HTML

Imagine asking a website for information, like asking a friend for help. That's what Requests-HTML does - it lets you make requests to websites and easily find the data you're looking for in the response.

Lxml

Lxml is like a super-powered magnifying glass for web pages. It is a helpful instrument for extracting information from HTML texts, making it valuable for scraping product reviews.

What are the Benefits of Product Review Scraping?

Product review scraping services help in utilizing the most efficient tool that captures all the customer views and mentions of products that are distributed across the web. This tool is beneficial for businesses in lots of ways:

Understanding the Market

When the company asks for feedback from different sources, customers can become more familiar with what other buyers have to say about ecommerce data scraping services. This may help them determine products that attract customers and how to notify people about them.

Checking out Competitors

Businesses will have to look at the reviews of similar products in order to take them up. This enables them to figure out who follows and does not, regarding leading competitors, and how to improve their products.

Listening to Customers

Reviews present the same thing that blows the air straight from the customer's mouth about the experience of the product. Therefore, it will be easy for businesses to find out the pros and cons of their marketing campaigns.

Keeping an Eye on Prices

Reviews featuring overpricing or offering a good deal can be found in the review texts. This influences the price that businesses can set on their products, which ensures customers are happy and get value for their money.

Protecting their Reputation

Upon seeing the reviews, the businesses will be able to act and respond to any negative comments; they can even demonstrate that they value their customers' viewpoints. Through this action, they are able to maintain their position and gain customers' trust, which are the key things for their reputation.

What are the Challenges of Product Review Scraping

In general, it is the most convenient approach, allowing companies to get useful recommendations, make the right decisions, and retain their strong positions.

Data Quality

When scraping product reviews, it's essential to make sure that the information gathered is accurate and reliable by using expert web scraping services. However, reviews often contain typos, slang, or unclear language, which can make it hard to understand what customers are saying. When analyzing the data, this might result in mistakes or misinterpretations.

Website Changes

Websites where posted reviews frequently update their layout or structure. This can cause problems for scraping tools because they may no longer be able to find and collect the reviews in the same way. Businesses need to constantly monitor and update their scraping methods to keep up with these changes.

Legal and Ethical Issues

Scraping data from websites without permission can raise legal and ethical concerns. Numerous websites include terms of service that forbid scraping, and doing so without authorization could infringe upon copyright laws. Moreover, collecting personal data without consent can lead to privacy issues.

Anti-Scraping Measures

Some websites use measures like CAPTCHA challenges or blocking IP addresses to prevent automated scraping. These measures can make it difficult to collect the data needed for analysis.

Volume and Scale

Collecting and processing large amounts of review data from multiple sources by utilizing ecommerce data scraping services can be challenging. Significant computing and knowledge of advanced resources are necessary, which can cause the scraping process to run more slowly. It is crucial to have efficient techniques for organizing, storing, and interpreting large amounts of data.

Review Spam and Bias

Review platforms may contain fake or biased reviews, which can skew the analysis results. Methods for removing spam and recognizing authentic reviews must be developed to guarantee the accuracy of the analysis.

Multilingual Data

When scraping product reviews from ecommerce websites and international websites, businesses may encounter reviews in different languages. This raises issues with linguistic variety and translation. Language hurdles and cultural variations must be carefully taken into account when correctly understanding and interpreting evaluations written in several languages.

Dynamic Content

Reviews often contain dynamic content such as images, videos, or emojis. This content may be too complex for traditional scraping approaches to collect correctly. Effective dynamic content extraction and analysis require sophisticated techniques.

Why Perform Product Review Scraping?

Product review scraping involves using special tools or software to gather information from various places on the internet where people leave reviews about products. This information can come from online stores like Amazon, review websites, social media platforms, or forums.

Continue reading https://www.reviewgators.com/know-about-product-review-scraping.php

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iWeb Scraping provides Best Amazon Product Review Data Scraping Services in the USA, UAE, Australia and Singapore to scrape or extract Amazon product review data using API to get best results.

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[iwebdatascrape]

Amazon Product Data Scraping Services - Scrape Amazon Product Data

Leverage the benefit of our Amazon product data scraping services to efficiently scrape Amazon product data, encompassing essential details such as ASIN, product titles, pricing information, and more.

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[realdataapi1]

BestBuy Product Data Scraper | Scrape BestBuy Products Reviews, Prices

What is the role of BestBuy Products Scraper?

Our BestBuy Product Data Extractor Enables You To Extract Product Data From The Popular Consumer Electronics Platform BestBuy For Free.

This Scraper Allows You To Scrape Data In The Following Data Fields.

Product names

Categories

Current prices

Original prices

URLs

Sales

Availability

Ratings

You Can Access The Official API Of The Platform To Export The Product Information. But You May Face Challenges In Getting The Data With This, Like Limited Data Access, Hard-To-Get Data In A Usable Format, Etc. Our Actor Overcomes These Challenges And Allows You To Scrape Unlimited Data In A Usable Format.

What is the cost of using the Best Buy data scraper?

This API Consumes Approximately 25 Cents For One Thousand Results.

Input

Place the category link from the (Shop deals by category) section of the website.

Select the maximum product counts to extract.

Choose the proxy server option from the box.

Opt for the proxy country that you want to use.

Click on the Run button and wait for the outputs.

Open The Input Tab To See The JSON Example.{ "StartUrls": [ { "Url": "Https://Www.Bestbuy.Com/Site/Promo/Tv-Deals" } ], "Proxy": {"UseRealdataAPIProxy": True},"MaxProducts": "0"}

Output

Once The API Completes The Execution, It Will Save Outputs In The Dataset. Visit The Dataset And Choose The Format You Wish From The Export Box.

Example results

{ "Name": "Samsung - Galaxy A52 5G 128GB (Unlocked) - Black", "Image": "Https://Pisces.Bbystatic.Com/Image2/BestBuy_US/Images/Products/6452/6452968_sd.Jpg", "Url": "Https://Www.Bestbuy.Com/Site/Samsung-Galaxy-A52-5g-128gb-Unlocked-Black/6452968.P?SkuId=6452968", "Description": "Shop Samsung Galaxy A52 5G 128GB (Unlocked) Black At Best Buy. Find Low Everyday Prices And Buy Online For Delivery Or In-Store Pick-Up. Price Match Guarantee.", "Sku": "6452968", "Gtin13": "0887276536330", "Model": "SM-A526UZKDXAA", "Color": "Black", "Brand": { "Name": "Samsung" }, "AggregateRating": { "RatingValue": "4.4", "ReviewCount": "198" }, "Offers": { "PriceCurrency": "USD", "Seller": { "Name": "Best Buy" }, "LowPrice": "349.99", "HighPrice": "499.99", "Offercount": 10, "Offers": [ { "PriceCurrency": "USD", "Price": "499.99", "Availability": "InStock", "ItemCondition": "NewCondition", "Description": "New", "Offers": [ { "PriceCurrency": "USD", "Price": "499.99", "ItemCondition": "NewCondition", "Description": "FULL_SRP SPR Unlocked Upgrade" }, { "PriceCurrency": "USD", "Price": "499.99", "ItemCondition": "NewCondition", "Description": "FULL_SRP TMO Unlocked Upgrade" }, { "PriceCurrency": "USD", "Price": "499.99", "ItemCondition": "NewCondition", "Description": "FULL_SRP VZW Unlocked Upgrade" }, { "PriceCurrency": "USD", "Price": "499.99", "ItemCondition": "NewCondition", "Description": "FULL_SRP ATT Unlocked New" }, { "PriceCurrency": "USD", "Price": "499.99", "ItemCondition": "NewCondition", "Description": "FULL_SRP VZW Unlocked New" }, { "PriceCurrency": "USD", "Price": "399.99", "ItemCondition": "NewCondition", "Description": "FULL_SRP TMO Unlocked New" } ] }, { "PriceCurrency": "USD", "Price": "409.99", "Availability": "InStock", "ItemCondition": "UsedCondition", "Description": "Open-Box Excellent" }, { "PriceCurrency": "USD", "Price": "374.99", "ItemCondition": "UsedCondition", "Description": "Open-Box Satisfactory" }, { "PriceCurrency": "USD", "Price": "349.99", "ItemCondition": "UsedCondition", "Description": "Open-Box Fair" } ] }, "Images": [ "Https://Pisces.Bbystatic.Com/Image2/BestBuy_US/Images/Products/6452/6452968_sd.Jpg", "Https://Pisces.Bbystatic.Com/Image2/BestBuy_US/Images/Products/6452/6452968cv11d.Jpg", "Https://Pisces.Bbystatic.Com/Image2/BestBuy_US/Images/Products/6452/6452968cv12d.Jpg", "Https://Pisces.Bbystatic.Com/Image2/BestBuy_US/Images/Products/6452/6452968cv13d.Jpg", "Https://Pisces.Bbystatic.Com/Image2/BestBuy_US/Images/Products/6452/6452968cv14d.Jpg", "Https://Pisces.Bbystatic.Com/Image2/BestBuy_US/Images/Products/6452/6452968cv15d.Jpg", "Https://Pisces.Bbystatic.Com/Image2/BestBuy_US/Images/Products/6452/6452968cv16d.Jpg" ] }

Note: For More Details On The Real Data API Platform And Data Scraping APIs, Visit The Store Page Or Contact Us.

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[ramblingsfromthytruly]

11th September 2024, Wednesday

day 17/50 productivity challenge

💤: 5hrs - oh it's gonna be a long day, i have a full day of school, yikes!

🕒 7 a.m. - and so it begins

morning skincare

extended duolingo streak

practiced playing keyboard

🕒 8 a.m. - left for school, it's a full day *sigh*

we couldn't skip the first 2 classes of p.e. because we had this fitness test thingy. apparently it's for proof of disability or lack for cbse assessments. the first running test i fucking skidded and fell and scraped my palms and knees. if i was a few years younger i would've been SO embarrassed but atp idc. at least i got lots of walking/jogging in. also this made me realize i NEED to start running more. reminds me that we're prolly gonna register in cbse loc for boards after mid terms

no caffeine so no energy so i slept through my physics demo class :(

good thing i've never missed a deadline in biology b4, because today i told my teacher i forgot my classwork (we had to submit today) and she didn't scold me i hadn't even completed it

(last class was free yay, so i started) studied + made notes biology ch: cell: the unit of life while eavesdropping on my classmates about some drama

🕒 3 p.m. - back home. overall review of my time at school: shit/10

yapped with my mom about politics, our unhinged neighbors, etc

cleaned my scratches with antiseptic liquid while being an overly dramatic lil baby about it

planned the rest of the week

completed chemistry lab record

folded laundry

took headbath

cleaned out email + photo gallery

went down for the visarjan and food!

played a game of chess and won yay

read newspaper

studied + made notes biology ch: cell: the unit of life

night skincare

🕒 1 a.m. - went to bed with the satisfaction that today wasn't an entire waste after all <3

🚰: 4 glasses - need to start consciously drinking more water. i only included this today for the first time because i was too embarrassed to show that my prev days were little around 2-3 glasses