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12-06-2012, 02:50 AM | #31 |
Wizard
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What to the following have in common:
George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Kingsley Amis, Gore Vidal, Anthony Powell, Anthony Burgess, Anthony Boucher, James Blish, Clive James, Henry James, John Mortimer, George Orwell, etc etc etc have in common? They all wrote reviews.... |
12-06-2012, 03:54 AM | #32 |
eBook Enthusiast
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The issue isn't whether or not authors write reviews, but whether or not the potential conflict of interest outweighs the benefits. On balance, I think it probably does, and that Amazon have acted in the interests of their customers here.
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12-06-2012, 04:18 AM | #33 | |
Somewhat clueless
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/JB |
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12-06-2012, 04:38 AM | #34 | |
monkey on the fringe
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I was thinking the same thing. It's an excellent way to screw over an author you don't like. |
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12-06-2012, 04:51 AM | #35 | |
Interested Bystander
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12-06-2012, 08:18 AM | #36 |
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I understand trying to enforce "real" reviews, but that puts my book in a catch-22 position. My book is on creating ebooks, so by definition authors are the people buying my book. So this rule basically eliminates any chances of my getting a review!
That's fair? |
12-06-2012, 08:49 AM | #37 |
Literacy = Understanding
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I guess I don't see the problem with authors reviewing books by other authors. First, it is disingenuous to say that each book is unique and then to say the books are widgets. Either each book is unique or every book is substitutable for every other book.
Second, it assumes that authors don't read books by other authors and that they are always liars. I would be very disappointed to discover that the only book an author has ever read is the book he or she wrote. Third, it says that reviews by authors are less honest than reviews by so-called readers, you know, the people who give a review even though they have never read the book but who are not themselves authors. Seems to me it would be better to require the authors who write reviews of another author's books to identify themselves by their real names and to list the book they authored that is in competition with the book under review. Then a reader could give the review whatever weight they thought appropriate, just like they do with the 1-star reviews complaining about pricing. Last edited by rhadin; 12-07-2012 at 07:52 AM. Reason: fixed spelling error |
12-06-2012, 08:52 AM | #38 | |
Wizard
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Of course Amazon are fighting a losing battle - they can't hope to catch all the sock puppets and shills - but I think it's at least worth trying to keep the review system functional. (Perhaps they could allow reviews that don't count towards the rating?) |
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12-06-2012, 08:57 AM | #39 | |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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12-06-2012, 09:15 AM | #40 |
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Seems to me that there can be no "unscammable" online review system. Yet everyone loves to scream about how dysfunctional Amazon's review system is. I say leave it the "anything goes" system it's (mostly) been all along. You can't fix it, and any attempts (like this one) to automate some—any—semblance of legitimacy is doomed to be viewed as tossing babies with bathwater. What's the real harm in the review system being scammed in the first place? I mean, any reader who makes a purchase decision based a handful of clearly biased reviews deserves to be parted from their $2.99-6.99 anyway (or deserves to be cheated out of the experience of reading a perfectly good book, for that matter). Seriously, how many authors' careers are truly hanging in the balance of disingenuous reviews (good or bad)? Just let the reviews fly; people are never going to NOT bitch about whatever system is employed.
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12-06-2012, 10:53 AM | #41 | |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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12-06-2012, 10:57 AM | #42 |
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True enough. But the fact that you can't eliminate all possible conflicts of interest isn't a reason not to eliminate some forms.
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12-06-2012, 11:51 AM | #43 | |
Grand Master of Flowers
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I think that the answers to these questions are quite different for those established authors than for many authors on Amazon. And no one is saying that authors can't write reviews. Amazon is saying that the authors can't write reviews *on Amazon.* The real problem isn't Umberto Eco writing a review on Amazon (assuming he would do such a thing). The real problem is when you look at a self-published book and find that it has 10 5-star reviews. You then check out the reviewers and find that each of them is a self published author, and each of their books has a positive review by the person who wrote the book you originally looked at. This is a real problem with the credibility of Amazon's reviewing process, and Amazon should stop it. Most customers want to read independent reviews, not reviews written by other authors in the hopes of getting reviews of their own books. That just looks like marketing. None of this implies that Amazon's reviews are perfect now, or that their implementation of this process is ideal. However, the idea itself is a good idea, and overdue. |
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12-06-2012, 11:56 AM | #44 | |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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I disagree, you act like there is some huge conspiracy in place, I don't think authors spend time reviewing books just to get reviews on their books. I think authors spend time writing. |
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12-06-2012, 01:04 PM | #45 |
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Writers are readers too, and they're more likely to have an "informed" opinion on a book instead of either "ITS GRATE" or "IT SUX". There will almost certainly be some writers who swap good reviews, just as there are insecure writers who feel the need to trash a book they see as competition. But banning all writers from leaving reviews is just a silly knee-jerk reaction and won't make any difference at all to the number of fake reviews on Amazon.
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