Amazon and Reviews

The NY Times has just printed some comments on the review process. Specifically what they contend are positive reviews from friends or the like.

They state:

Beneath the placid surface of Amazon, authors and reviewers have been in a ferment this fall. After several well-publicized episodes involving writers soliciting or paying for reviews, the retailer seems to be cracking down on log-rolling. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of book reviews have been killed. Amazon has not explained exactly why.

One possible target: authors who have sent gift certificates to reviewers to buy their books. While it’s easy to see the potential for abuse here — “Here’s a $100 gift certificate. Buy a copy of my novel for 99 cents and keep the change” — some writers argue it is no different than sending a physical copy of a book to someone, which is what publishers do in the offline world and therefore is allowed by Amazon. At least, the line between the two is blurry.

The problem I have seen is somewhat the opposite. Namely the cramming down of negative reviews. For example there were many negative reviews of Google products, namely what appears to be the technical defects of the Google Nexus, and bad reviews of Microsoft products. No sooner are they posted than the are crammed down by "Not Helpful" comments. These Not Helpful drive the review to a last place. Thus if a reviewer determines the product, take the Nexus 7, is in their opinion defective, and more so, that Google Customer Service is useless, then there seems to be some "machine" which recognizes the negative review and then automatically crams it down so no one can see it.

Thus there are ways that people and machines can manipulate the reviews.

For example the article states:

Some critics noted that some of Mr. Ferriss’ fans had written no other reviews — usually a tip-off that the reviewer has been paid or was a friend of the author. 

My suggestion is, now this has nothing to do with the person in question since I have no opinion having seen none of his works, but in general:

1. Always look for the one star review.

2. Look to see if the reviewer uses their real name.

3. Look to see that the reviewer has done a reasonable number of real reviews before.

4. Then look at those reviews especially if they have been crammed down.

The system is being manipulated but following a few reasonable rules one can determine who is real and who is not.