Madison Commencement
Bengals hold off season activites
Missing in American Memorial
Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2008 > October > 27 > Entry
Amazon. com does the right thing (again)
No, I’m not talking about Oprah Winfrey’s latest discovery, the Amazon Kindle. It’s amazing how Oprah’s stamp of approval carries so much weight. The Kindle, Amazon’s paperless reading device came out about a year ago. A lot of people had never heard of it until Oprah started gushing about it. But no, that’s not what I’m talking about.
Long time perusers of this blog might recall that I have done a number of posts about Amazon’s customer reviews. In particular, I have written about Amazon’s Numero Uno customer reviewer. I call her The Mysterious Harriet Klausner.
I check out Amazon’s website on a daily basis to see what books are hot. Now and then I look at Harriet Klausner’s gargantuan pile of book reviews and chuckle because I have never believed that anyone, even Harriet Klausner - could possibly read AND review that many books. As of today Harriet has posted 17, 532 reviews!
As I have stated in previous posts on this subject, I am biased. I love Amazon.com. They sell almost everything and they do it very well. Amazon.com is a well run company. That’s why I have always been puzzled that Amazon was allowing their customer reviewer system to be dominated by a few mega-reviewers who posted so many reviews and got so many positive votes for their reviews that mere mortals could never hope to match their output.
I have wondered about it on this blog and it has gotten the attention of other media. I did an interview about it for Slate.com last year. That piece in Slate was noticed by someone at National Public Radio. I did an interview about Amazon top reviewers for NPR. Most of my comments never made it on to NPR’s airwaves but my main point was this: AMAZON.COM is too good of a company to allow their customer reviewing system to keep going on this way….
Apparently, I was right about Amazon.com….
Last night after the World Series game ended I logged on to Amazon.com to see what was what. I hadn’t looked at Harriet Klausner’s reviews lately so I decided to check them out for a wee guffaw. When I did I made a stunning discovery….
Amazon.com has altered their customer reviewing system. They have created another tier of customer reviews with a different ranking system. On this new system, Harriet Klausner remains at the top of what Amazon is now calling their Classic Reviewer Rank. But here’s the shocking part: Amazon has a new ranking system that is running alongside the old one. They are calling it their New Reviewer Rank and in that new system Harriet Klausner ranks at the truly humbling #445.
Amazon.com has done the right thing by trying to address some flaws in their customer reviewing system. Amazon has extensive areas devoted to customer feedback, reviews, discussion boards, etc. I got a good chuckle when I checked out some of the comments Amazon has been getting from some formerly lofty status reviewers who have been demoted on this new ranking system.
Such pathetic whining from some of them….but not from the Mysterious Harriet….she soldiers on with her heavy load…plowing through the books like candy…three hearty cheers for Amazon.com !!!
For Amazon insights from the outside check out the Harriet Klausner Appreciation Society.
Reporting from the Amazone, I’m Vick Mickunas….
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: in the Amazone
Comments
By Peter Durward Harris
November 5, 2008 5:03 AM | Link to this
While a lot of old-time reviewers hate the new ranking system, I approve. And it’s not because my ranking improved slightly with the changes - somewhat surprisingly, since I haven’t been prolific and the new system is supposed to favor recent reviews. Indeed, any improvement in my American ranking is insignificant compared to the huge drops I expect elsewhere on Amazon. I expect a Klausner-esque drop in my own country if and when the system is installed there. The reason I approve of the new system, particularly all the vote-stripping, is because the problem of cheating has escalated to untenanable proportions. It is unfortunate that some genuine votes have been lost, but it would have been impossible for Amazon to tackle the problem without this collateral damage. I’m sure that some people will delight at my fall from UK #1 whenever it happens, especially if (as I expect), I end up outside the top 100, but as I’ve told others, I’d rather have a credible ranking than a high ranking. Nor do I want to retain a #1 badge if somebody else is #1 on the new system. I don’t mind the “classic ranking” being retained, but awarding badges for “best of two rankings” just means that those who are minded to cheat will continue to do so, albeit deterred by the vote-stripping. Incidentally, Grady Harp’s high vote totals appear to be partly due to self-voting and partly due to voting circles. It seems from other people’s observations that the self-votes remain but the votes from his circle of fans have been stripped away. More work needs doing by Amazon.By joe c.
November 1, 2008 5:52 AM | Link to this
It’d be most curious. But she’s quiet. Her new rank is 445. What a terrible disappointment must this be for her and others like her! Good job, Amazon!By vick
October 30, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this
Wouldn’t you love to know how Harriet is taking this news? She’s still NUMBER ONE but her ranking has been diluted with this new system running alongside the old one….By NewRules
October 30, 2008 3:58 AM | Link to this
No, I think this was someone having fun. But it is something Mr Harp could say (and certainly feels).By vick
October 28, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this
NewRules, perhaps this was one of the proxy Grady voters??By NewRules
October 27, 2008 6:43 PM | Link to this
Maestro Harp (if it’s him) is upset! Understandably: all his votes he most likely cast for himself himself are gone. :-)By Grady
October 27, 2008 3:56 PM | Link to this
This is not fair! Some of us worked very hard to succeed in the original system. This is so wrong!