Algorithm Induced Alcoholism


Screenshot of a long list of emails from Flavourly.

I like beer. I like the Internet. What if I could get beer using the Internet?!?! A few years ago I purchased a mixed crate of beer online. I unticked all the checkboxes for marketing messages - but incautiously allowed them to send me special offers. Every couple of months, they'd send me an email offering discount beer. And I'd ignore it. Mostly because I was still slowly working my way through the last crate. But one day their marketing algorithm obviously decided that I was about to…

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