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Originally Posted by rhadin
But when you go to Amazon and see a bunch of 4- and 5-star reviews of a book, how do you know the reviews aren't paid-for reviews?
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Because most paid reviews say if they are paid/bribed. Or at least I was under the impression that paid for reviews had to state so. If not, then yes, user reviews "could" be useless.
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And if you are going to insist that payment for a review makes the review untrustworthy in toto, at what kinds of payment do you draw the line? Is it OK to accept a box of chocolate but not $10? Or is it OK to accept $10 but not $1,000? Or how about a bunch of bookmarks or pens?
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Paid is paid. Bribed is bribed. No matter what it is. You get a free review copy, I suspect you. You the reviewer have nothing to lose. Unlike me who has to shell out actual real life money that I've worked for.
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Seems to me that whether a review should be accepted or not should depend on the content of the review. I am much more inclined to accept a reviewer's opinion when the reviewer compares the book under review to other well-known and respected books in the genre.
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That assumes that every reviewer is honest, intelligent and well read. Content is important, but the unconscious bias [or conscious if the paid reviewer is a real human] that getting paid brings about is a real thing. You can't ignore it by ignoring human nature.