On reading reviews at Amazon.com: As other people have mentioned, I mostly turn to amazon.com reviews when finding reference materials. I do, however, occasionally turn to them for fiction reviews. In this case, usually because I have become ambivalent about an author's series and what to see what's being said about the latest book.
On anonymity: Yes, most of the time anonymous reviews give an excuse for incivility. But sometimes (and not just in the case of amazon.com) people have a legitimate reason to speak out without being identified. Some people gave examples of being identified with witch craft.
In other situations, people are willing to speak about their problem, on the condition of anonymity.... I believe that is the basis for AA, anonymous help-lines, and other groups. OK, so that is not the point of reviews at amazon.com, but imagine that someone would like to review a book that helped them deal with such a problem. It could be a self-help book, or even a fiction book that deals with the problem. The review could be helpful to others, but might not be written except under the cover of anonymity.
Thus, I can see reasons to allow anonymous reviews, but I would prefer that they not count as much: * When reviews for a book are listed, anonymous reviews follow reviews by named reviewers. * If there are reviews by both anonymous and named reviewers, only the ratings of named reviewers count towards the average rating of the product.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 10:16 pm (UTC)As other people have mentioned, I mostly turn to amazon.com reviews when finding reference materials. I do, however, occasionally turn to them for fiction reviews. In this case, usually because I have become ambivalent about an author's series and what to see what's being said about the latest book.
On anonymity:
Yes, most of the time anonymous reviews give an excuse for incivility. But sometimes (and not just in the case of amazon.com) people have a legitimate reason to speak out without being identified. Some people gave examples of being identified with witch craft.
In other situations, people are willing to speak about their problem, on the condition of anonymity.... I believe that is the basis for AA, anonymous help-lines, and other groups. OK, so that is not the point of reviews at amazon.com, but imagine that someone would like to review a book that helped them deal with such a problem. It could be a self-help book, or even a fiction book that deals with the problem. The review could be helpful to others, but might not be written except under the cover of anonymity.
Thus, I can see reasons to allow anonymous reviews, but I would prefer that they not count as much:
* When reviews for a book are listed, anonymous reviews follow reviews by named reviewers.
* If there are reviews by both anonymous and named reviewers, only the ratings of named reviewers count towards the average rating of the product.