latepaul I have to give thanks for even mentioning my post on this forum...I feel that I have officially 'arrived'
That said I have to say that I am not completely against having a review snippet (as in 1 review excerpt under 15 word) in the description area but I do not think the whole visible area should be what other people think. I think for myself and to have an author shove someone else's opinion at me is irritating and demeaning. I find myself thinking that the manuscript might not be able to stand on it's own merit. If the book description needs the added help of reviews to entice readers then re-do the description so that hooks me.
There are a few authors that I do not even bother to look at the description but those are few and they have a massive fan base anyway. New authors and even not so new authors should not try to emulate the big names in this way as I believe it backfires.
From the response I have had on the post, twitter, Facebook and other social media sites, an overwhelming number of readers agree with me. I have also heard that I am not the only one that refuses to buy books with the review snippets filling up the initial visible portion of the book description area.
Anyway, thanks for continuing the discussion on Mobileread. I am honored.