As TFA notes, there are legitimate instances of bulk orders:
There's a case for the Times not automatically ignoring bulk orders. Since 2020, I've run Kickstarters where I've pre-sold my books on behalf of my publisher, working with bookstores like Book Soup and wholesalers like Porchlight Books to backers when they go on sale. I signed and personalized 500+ books at Vroman's yesterday for backers who pre-ordered my next novel, The Bezzle:
(Further details follow.)
More generally, those who have experience with data analysis will be aware that data can be gamed in any number of ways, and detecting this gaming, particularly with data supplied by multiple third parties and often obscuring salient details, can in fact be challenging. I have no insight as to the NYT's manipulation detection, but as TFA also notes:
The Times recognizes [bulk-order sales mainipulation] in a backhanded way, by marking Read Write Own on the list with a "dagger" (†) that indicates the shenanigans
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 17.7 ms ] threadThere's a case for the Times not automatically ignoring bulk orders. Since 2020, I've run Kickstarters where I've pre-sold my books on behalf of my publisher, working with bookstores like Book Soup and wholesalers like Porchlight Books to backers when they go on sale. I signed and personalized 500+ books at Vroman's yesterday for backers who pre-ordered my next novel, The Bezzle:
(Further details follow.)
More generally, those who have experience with data analysis will be aware that data can be gamed in any number of ways, and detecting this gaming, particularly with data supplied by multiple third parties and often obscuring salient details, can in fact be challenging. I have no insight as to the NYT's manipulation detection, but as TFA also notes:
The Times recognizes [bulk-order sales mainipulation] in a backhanded way, by marking Read Write Own on the list with a "dagger" (†) that indicates the shenanigans