|
I stopped worrying about this sort of thing a long time ago.
I wrote articles for eHow for a while, and there was something about that place that attracted the crazies. eHow had an algorithm that would reward "better" articles, but it was a secret to keep people from cheating hte system - so of course, people who wanted to cheat the system would make up methods anyway, and get in knockdown, drag out fights over it.
For a while there were groups that would compete with each other in horrible wars, rating up and down articles. They would friend each other and recommend each other and smear their "enemies." Some of them would sign up for mulitple accounts and go after their "enemies" day after day after day, giving dozens of downratings.
And the sane people started comparing notes... and found that the articles under attack tended to start making more money afterward. All the activity aimed at them was making the article look more popular to the search engines. It was actually HELPING the article and the author.
The same thing happens with these ridiculous reviews. A low rating draws interest as people check out the reasons for the low rating. (Same with a high rating - people tend to be suspicious of a solid 5-star rating. They also trust a book with a lot of ratings more than one with only a few.)
So just remember that these people are just out to get your goat. But they aren't paying rent on you head. Don't give 'em space.
Camille
|