I have always wondered why YELP and Amazon Reviews and other review sites work as well as they do since a company COULD flood one with false reviews (high marks for their company or low marks for their competitors). From what I've seen this does not seem to be a big problem.
Even so, it is A problem, and amazon is taking action on it. See here for details.
A while back I posted a review that is... not sure its false, but I am surprised they allowed it and still allow it. What happened: I bought a copy of my own book Bounded Queries in Recursion Theory (Gasarch and Martin) since my dept wanted a copy to put in one of those glass cases of faculty books. I bought it used for about $10.00. I got email from amazon asking if I wanted to review it, so I thought YES, I'll review my book! I wrote:
This is a great book. I should know, I wrote it.
I am surprised Amazon ASKED me for my opinion.
Seriously- I also have a survey which says whats in the book
better, email me if you want it, gasarch@cs.umd.edu
That was in November of 2014. Its still posted. Is it a false review? Not clear since everything I say in it is true and I am honestly saying who I am.
If Amazon removed it I would be surprised they noticed.
If Amazon does not remove it I'm surprised they allow it.
Is it possible to be surprised both ways?
Technically not allowed (Sentiments by or on behalf of a person or company with a financial interest in the product) but it's such a minor infraction I'm sure Amazon doesn't care. It's people pretending to be dozens of satisfied customers that are the big issue, not a single positive review that states upfront the reviewer's bias.
ReplyDeleteBill: This would be great opportunity to correct the typos in your review of your own book.
ReplyDeleteYes, I noticed the typos as I was typing in the blog and was thinking of fixing them (and adding a link to my survey) but your comment pushed me to do it. Thanks.
DeleteBut I wonder- I submitted the corrections and they will email me when they approve(?) it. So I wonder if now they will notice.
Agree with Paul- that a book ranked 2,922,504 is not going to get
their attention, nor should it.