[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Yes, it is. I've submitted reviews elsewhere (product reviews) that net me a form letter saying I didn't meet their standards, leaving me to wonder exactly what I said that offended them. Go over to one of the shopping channel forums and read the comments about inconsistent application of the guidelines for product reviews.

I haven't frequented those kinds of sites, but okay, that's fair.

Originally Posted by Catlady

I imagine Amazon censors certain language, but little else.

Aside from language, references to other places to buy the products, and prices, I think you're probably right.

Originally Posted by Catlady

And you only know this if you actually READ the review. You have no assurance whatsover that the star ratings are legit, even if there's no protest movement involved. The star ratings are always, always to be taken with a grain of salt.

And that's because....wait for it...anyone can write a review, whether they've used product or not. If they used verified purchases, you'd at least know that the people involved used the product/read the book, etc.

Originally Posted by Catlady

Again, all you need to do is READ the review. Problem solved. What it all comes down to is that you don't want to actually read the comments.

1) Letting people put reviews up when they haven't read the book makes me much less likely to read the reviews. If a substantial number of the people who put reviews up (particularly in one of these campaigns) has no valid basis for their review, why in God's name would I bother? In a situation like that, it's much more sensible to look at the average star rating, or the distribution of stars, because you don't have to wade through piles of rubbish. That's what I'm talking about with the non-review-reviews making the reviews themselves less valuable. No one with an IQ above freezing is going to bother to wade through reviews if 50% of them might as well say "Purple monkey dishwasher".

Originally Posted by Catlady

If the company making the device is one that has made schlock in the past, it's legit to say that even in a pre-review. If it's a great company, I want to know that too.

That's a possibility, but there's also a possibility that either a) they turned things around and are doing better, or b) they used to make good stuff, and now it's crap.