Seems like a problem that could be solved, in part, by reopening Goodreads’ APIs (so that people could write ring detectors, inauthentic behavior, etc.). But Amazon doesn’t appear to be interested in that.
Goodreads asks users to help combat 'review bombing'
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Re: Goodreads asks users to help combat 'review bombing'
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Re-read the article, or at least the second paragraph. They (and some buddies or sock puppet accounts) were low-ranking other authors’ books, specifically targeting authors of color. They’ve admitted this publicly. https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/13/cait-corrain-p... > “I boosted the rating of my book, bombed the ratings of several fellow debut authors, and left reviews that ranged from kind of mean to dow…
The first part is false > Many of the books given one-star ratings were written by people of colour That is not 'specifically targeting.' Why do you have to make this about race?
The sock puppet accounts were given stereotypically of-color names, and targeted authors were disproportionately of-color. There’s pretty clear indication of bias there.
> They posted a 31-page Google document containing screenshots of the activity of a number of accounts, with usernames including “Chantal B” and “Oh Se-Young”, suspected to have been created by Corrain.
> “There’s something extra despicable about using clearly POC [people of colour] names in the fake accounts to upvote every negative review on POC books so the top ones are all 1 star and 2 star. Like what in the yellow face,” Zhao tweeted. Many of the accounts linked on the document Zhao shared have now been deleted.
Re: Goodreads asks users to help combat 'review bombing'
#13I’m surprised this is a problem Amazon cannot solve.
If they wanted to, they would. They obviously don't care.
How this is any different from their poor handling of fake reviews on all the Chinese garbage that floods their normal sales I don't know.
Re: Goodreads asks users to help combat 'review bombing'
#14How about the platforms get hefty fines in the billions for fake reviews? I’m sure Amazon would solve this problem in a day then
Re: Goodreads asks users to help combat 'review bombing'
#15How about the platforms get hefty fines in the billions for fake reviews? I’m sure Amazon would solve this problem in a day then
It's not super difficult to only show reviews you are highly confident AREN'T completely fake.
Instead they prioritize having as many reviews as possible - when possibly a majority of them are fake.
And the cost is - the reviews are completely meaningless.
All they care about is engagement - and if users have to dig through reviews manually trying to sort out signal from noise - that's engagement to them, not an awful product.
Re: Goodreads asks users to help combat 'review bombing'
#16How about the platforms get hefty fines in the billions for fake reviews? I’m sure Amazon would solve this problem in a day then
Amazon would solve it by removing reviews. No big loss these days, IMO.
Re: Goodreads asks users to help combat 'review bombing'
#17I’m surprised this is a problem Amazon cannot solve.
> I’m surprised this is a problem Amazon cannot solve.
I'm surprised Amazon is actually doing something, anything, related to Goodreads, including 'asking users'. The website feels abandoned.
Re: Goodreads asks users to help combat 'review bombing'
#18How about the platforms get hefty fines in the billions for fake reviews? I’m sure Amazon would solve this problem in a day then
Amazon would solve it by removing reviews. No big loss these days, IMO.
It’s the biggest loss I could imagine. I would stop using Amazon or use a third party review site.
Re: Goodreads asks users to help combat 'review bombing'
#19Goodreads should consider putting some effort into the platform they have allowed to languish for years.
Re: Goodreads asks users to help combat 'review bombing'
#20How about the platforms get hefty fines in the billions for fake reviews? I’m sure Amazon would solve this problem in a day then
Wish they'd just go the Steam route and only allow reviews from people who've purchased the product.
Amazon has a Verified Purchase label, but still too much noise.
For goodreads they'd need a different system (reputation based? helpfulness?)