[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by avantman42

I just wanted to point out, though, that it may not be possible to delete the accounts - some websites simply don't have a mechanism for deleting accounts. If that is the case, though, there's no reason why he can't hand over control of the accounts. He could change the password, then tell you the new password. Then you log in and change the password to something else. Even if you never use the account, at least you'll know that no-one else is using it.

The situation with the user accounts has now been dealt with; one account was deleted, and the other supposedly belongs to the reposter so the profile name has reverted to their own name. I can live with that.

Originally Posted by afa

Simply copying the review itself is not that big a deal. Sure, I would be annoyed, but then I'd shrug and move on. But the fact that they were posting under the same ID as your user name takes it to a different level. It basically means they were not just re-posting (i.e. plagiarism, which on the Net is virtually unavoidable), they were actively pretending to be you, which is a form of deception. And the author had no idea that 'someone else' (it's always someone else, isn't it?) was doing this? Sorry. Not buying it.

Yes, the reposting was bad enough, but under my username? That's the part that really creeps me out. More than once the author has assured that the review was reposted under my username because the reposter wanted to give credit to me ... make of that what you will, as I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it.

Originally Posted by afa

What steps is this author taking to ensure something like this doesn't happen again? Did he say? Did he confirm whether 'someone else' has done this to several other reviewers, as well? Or are you, by sheer coincidence, the only one this happened to? More likely, you're the only one who caught them.

I was only assured that it would never happen. I did not ask and was not told whether it had happened to anyone else.

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

They probably didn't think they were doing anything wrong. A book review would be more use to them on a site where the book is actually for sale than on someone's blog or similar. Sure, they could quote it in the book blurb, but does anyone really take any notice of that? Using the same name as the reviewer would add credibility, and would also mean that they are not claiming ownership of the review.

I'm trying not to go into too much detail here, but it seems like, according to the author, the reposter may be an older person and not too computer/internet-savvy (???) so you may on to something there.

To conclude, the author has been very cooperative and moved quickly to rectify the situation, and I'm grateful for this. While it was certainly the author's responsibility to fix, in our culture of 'wrong and strong', I could've ended up with the hassle of trying to get these stores to take down the review.