Ridiculous deals as store leaves website open for the public to edit

a month ago by bignose to c/webdev

An Auckland convenience store is in the midst of an ongoing online battle after inadvertently allowing its website to be edited by the general public.

The store […] found itself advertising, among other things, a “pair of crusty socks”, a “Princess Diana Commemorative Plate”, and “National Parks to the highest bidder”.

The store’s site uses Base44, a “no-code AI platform” that allows users to build web applications, but it has been left open for the public to edit.

At one point, while items were being added for sale, the website’s operator appeared to be arguing with the public, with one item saying “stop hacking us”. An item popped up in response saying “don’t use an AI site builder then.”

bignose 60 points a month ago

My favourite, show in a screenshot but not mentioned in the text, is an item “Website Developer”, price “$0.00”.

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Feathercrown 6 points a month ago

lmfao

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cannedtuna 55 points a month ago

Ah yes, AI web development, what could possibly go wrong?

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otter 38 points a month ago

Maybe we can help them, they made a new website here: http://127.0.0.1:3000/

In all seriousness, there are plenty of cheap services out there for businesses that want a store/website without any technical experience

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genzboomer 18 points a month ago

What the bloody hell are you doing? That's MY website. I have patent-pending on that!

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notabot 10 points a month ago

How did you get my secret site's address? The AI told me it was secure! I'm notifying the police right now, and they're going to trace your IP and arrest you!!

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nieceandtows 8 points a month ago

I traced it for you. It's 0.0.0.0

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ulterno 1 point a month ago

They also seem to be available at ::/0

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hyperion626 2 points a month ago

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bignose 7 points a month ago

The problem here is people offering a service for sale, when that service is manifestly not fit for purpose and indeed is unsafe to use.

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staircase 2 points a month ago

pot-ay-to pot-ah-to

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hyperion626 1 point a month ago

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LodeMike 2 points a month ago

Why are you asking this? The answer is right there ↑ /s

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franzbroetchen 45 points a month ago

“stop hacking us”

💀💀💀

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nieceandtows 8 points a month ago

didn't say the magic word

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I_am_10_squirrels 12 points a month ago

sudo

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ulterno 0 points a month ago

command not found, 'stop hacking us'

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myyass 3 points a month ago

NEIN!

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Feathercrown 3 points a month ago

leaves the door open "Why do bugs keep flying into my house??"

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dan 38 points a month ago

I don't understand why someone would use AI to build an e-commerce site.

For someone that doesn't know what they're doing, use something prebuilt and cloud-hosted like Shopify or Square. Even some major brands use it. The largest electronics store in Australia (JB HiFi, similar to Best Buy in the USA) uses Shopify Plus. I think Staples in the USA/Canada uses Shopify too.

For someone that does know what they're doing, they wouldn't have left it open for other people to edit it. AI still needs fundamental understanding of how e-commerce sites work.

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Klear 58 points a month ago

The problem with people who don't know what they're doing is that they don't know what they're doing.

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dan 7 points a month ago

I get that, but it's still weird that their first reaction was "I should use AI for this" rather than "I should copy what other small stores do" or "I should Google 'how to run an online store'", either of which would have led to a better solution.

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LordCrom 6 points a month ago

it's still weird that their first reaction was "I should use AI for this"

Why is that? With AI being the solution to everything being advertised down our thoats on the daily..... you dont think AI companies would lie to us do you?

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wyldrstallyns 3 points a month ago

Ah, I see you're still assuming that Google isn't pushing their BS "AI" into anything & everything it can. (not a "they", don't humanize it, my fellow poors) IMHO, they'd have been just as likely to choose a bot-coded builder by searching for it. Hell, we don't even know that they didn't, really.

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dan 1 point a month ago

I just searched in Google and their AI says to use Wix online store builder or Square online store. Reasonable suggestions.

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general_kitten 3 points a month ago

Even worse they dont know that they dont know that they're doing.

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Klear 1 point a month ago

I know, right?

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Kissaki 2 points a month ago

use something prebuilt and cloud-hosted

That's what these platforms are marketed as, though.

They provide a platform and expertise that allows you to build your branded website.

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Corbin 2 points a month ago

The thrust of your advice is good, but Shopify is part of the whole Omarchy situation, having donated to Omacom. That site recommends "WooCommerce or Openfront instead of Shopify;" I have no experience with either of those alternatives but would recommend adding them to your list of options.

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dan 1 point a month ago

oh no

WooCommerce and Openfront are both things you need to host yourself, which is fine for tech savvy people but probably not something I'd recommend to someone with no experience (or who thinks using AI for it is a good idea).

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ulterno 0 points a month ago

Perhaps because AI companies' advertisements were better suited to their CEO's brain and saying "AI" brought in more investor money.

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OwOarchist 34 points a month ago

Gee, I bet they sure are glad that they saved $20k by not hiring a real web developer, right?

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wolframhydroxide 2 points a month ago

Sic semper insipiens

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refalo 1 point a month ago

bellus

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CedricWhaley 2 points a month ago

The banana obviously should have been $10.

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ulterno 2 points a month ago

Ahh yes! The “stop hacking us” command.
Just if everyone could use that. Then we won't need to worry about the ever increasing requirements of higher encryption standards.

It's like making a property private, shouting "This is mine! Nobody come here!" when nobody is around and then expecting every random wanderer to just walk away despite not having any demarcation anywhere.

Perhaps nations should stop putting work into militarisation and just say "don't invade us".

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Coldcell 1 point a month ago

DID SOMEONE SAY...

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makeshift0546 -19 points a month ago

Dumb bitch had it coming. Shouldn’t have worn a pretty dress. - this thread, cause ai 😂

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