Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe
Are you sure? I heard differently this weekend at Worldcon. . . . According to the person in a panel that seemed to know what he was talking about.
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The two mainstream review sources I picked are just coincidentally the ones this anonymous person attacked?
In the long history of those publications, ethical lapses have occurred, as well as borderline situations. One difference between NYT/Atlantic and Amazon is that the reviews in the former grouping are not only signed, but signed in a way the review author is clearly and uniquely identifiable. Because of that, it's easier to recognize an ethical lapse where people are reviewing each others books. If it happens, someone can then write a letter to the editor or otherwise expose the situation.
I realize that many, if not most, Amazon reviews are also signed, but you can't be 100% sure of the attribution. And even when you do see an name and a city, it's often a common name and a big city, so the attribution can't really be used to check anything out.
Kirkus and PW have completely anonymous reviews. As I said previously, I'm not a fan of those either.