[jlgreco]

They know full well that these take-downs are nothing but token gestures. That means two things: 1) theatrics are emphasized. Taking them all down at once is more theatrical. 2) If they take down sites weeks before a major shopping holiday, they will be back well before the holiday hits. They are doing the equivalent of spritzing febreeze around the apartment right before people come over to visit.

[enraged_camel]

I'm not sure how valid your argument is. Christmas is almost a month away, and that's plenty of time for these websites to spring back up.

[jlgreco]

Well I suspect the idea is most people buy things before Christmas, not during. The perception seems to be that the single largest online shopping day in the "before Christmas" season is this "Cyber Monday".

Maybe the most active shopping day is the second Tuesday of December, or something else relatively obscure, but since theatrics are valued it would still make sense to hit on the day most people think of as "the big day".