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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The Problem With Amazon Reviews

No book cover for this one as the titles in question don't really have much to do with my blog. This actually is just something that I had to get off my chest because it kinda pissed me off. 

I was looking at some books on Amazon today and came across some one-star reviews in which the reviewer used comments like "Yuck" and "Loser" and "these people don't know what they're doing." Now, I can understand disliking a product. The fact of the matter is this, if you want people to listen to you, you should at least sound a bit intelligent, which this person did not.

The first review kinda irked my nerves considering what was written and what it was written about. Then, I looked at a second, related title and came across another bothersome review. So, I hit the "see all my reviews" option and, sure enough, the same person wrote both reviews. Hm...

I've seen people complain about Amazon reviews before but never really come across this myself until now. I occasionally look at the reviews to see what people think of something - in this case it was because there was such a bad overall rating for the title, thanks to the fact that only one person had reviewed it. My little brain was ticking away wondering what this particular person's issue was. I mean, did they have some sort of ulterior motive in posting such harsh reviews? After having looked at the rest of their reviews - many of them with the same "Yuck, don't waste your money" comments, I've simply come to the conclusion that this must be a very miserable person who has nothing better to do than post negative, anonymous reviews on Amazon.

Don't get me wrong, as I said I check out the reviews to get a sense of what other people think about books that I am on the fence about. I WRITE reviews, some of them are even bad ones. I just hope that people take it with a grain of salt and make their own decisions. I've acknowledged many times that while I may dislike something, I appreciate the fact that not everyone has the same taste that I do. I don't believe that I have ever written insulting and hateful reviews, though, and if I ever catch myself doing that, I'll know it's time for some happy medication!

2 comments:

Cheryl said...

I know that Amazon is a good place to post reviews but I have heard bad things about Amazon and how they usually only post the good reviews and the honest but well of knowledge reviews don't make it on the site.


A lot of people say that is why they read blogs for reviews instead of Amazon

Jenn's Bookshelves said...

I've heard the same thing about it as well. It's a big topic of discussion on librarything.com.