Amazon gives me advice how to review

[reviews_and_ramblings]

I sent an enquiry to Amazon wondering why some reviews were not posted. I was replied that there were some forbidden words (as usual, hand job, blow job), and that I was welcomed to post them again without them. But they also give me an advice more... directly from their words:

"Also, please make sure you are providing your opinion on whether the items you are review are good or bad and the reasons why. It appears that the majority of your reviews are just the descriptions of the plots of the books."

Strange, I was very well certain to do exactly the opposite. If I retell part of the story, it's only to point out some side of the characters... but well, they probably know more than me, don't they?

A very pissed off Elisa, who is really wondered why she bothers to post reviews on Amazon (I know why, I do that to promote the books, Amazon is till the main online booksellers, but still...)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

So I give 5 for default

In that case, your ratings are very misleading because they increase the overall rating of any book you review (however crappy it is), and in a way discredits the ratings you give to other books (that may be actually good).

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Sorry again, but have you read my reply? I said that, if it wasn't 5 it was probably 4 or something more. If statistics is not an opinion, that doesn't change so much, and I don't finish and post about books that are "crappy".

Elisa

[(Anonymous)]

Then why not just give them a 4? Why is it so hard to be more precise with how much you liked a book? To be honest, I don't read your reviews much lately since I don't get an idea of how good the book is, just about what happened and only a vague idea of whether you liked what happened, which is not the same as saying you liked the book.

A good book can have terrible events and still be enjoyable, and that's hard to tell sometimes.

Quantity is not the same as quality. I'd rather have fewer reviews with more about how good a book was. And I find the star ratings on Amazon and elsewhere generally a decent way of gauging how much people enjoyed the book, especially when many people vote, like on Goodreads.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

> Then why not just give them a 4?

Because I don't want to do that and it's my choice to not doing that and you have to accept that.

Sorry if you don't read my post, but also that, it's your choice and I accept that.

> Why is it so hard to be more precise with how much you liked a book?

I was thinking to this thing of the rate the other night before sleeping (see, I don't take light suggestion). And then again I find something that make me realize that I don't want to give rate. I read a book some months ago; it was different from the usual books I read, a bit "odd" with an ever odder main character. At first I didn't know if I was liking it, but than the character took me. For me it would have been 5+, but instead I wrote all of above. Just yesterday I read a review on the same book: 1... See? rate means nothing if you don't read the review, and the rate changes according to the people who read the book.

Elisa