Posted on 05/29/2015 10:27:21 PM PDT by 4Runner
Lately I've noticed the product reviews on Amazon have become free of typos and misspellings and all errors in usage. This is absolutely weird if you think about it. For the longest time (years) these product reviews were peppered with grammatical errors, misspellings, punctuation errors and inconsistencies as one would kind of expect, coming as they did from purchasers who are not professional writers and who represent a cross section of varying educational and experience backgrounds. Now, however, the reviews from five stars on down to one star all read as though they've come straight out of Consumer Reports magazine. They are grammatically perfect with nary a typo or misspelling in sight. Has anyone else noticed this difference? There have been some rumblings about manufacturers paying people to write positive product reviews on Amazon, but this sudden homogeneity in the editorial quality of the written reviews on Amazon across all brands and markets has got me wondering what the heck Jeff Bezos is up to now.
Common Core kicking in and working as advertised.
It has begun.
I have close to 300 reviews across all of my books and they run from exceptionally well written to a suspected cat walking across the keyboard. Where are you seeing these professional looking reviews?
There is software that can correct things on the fly.
Many “verified purchasers” are paid hacks who get products and/or money to write fake reviews. They are mostly from China, and are reimbursed for purchase in return for a favorable review. Beware.
Be nice. My cat loves your books and insists that I buy them for him as soon as they come out.
Reviews have been across many consumer product lines. Not books per se. The breadth and depth of consistency in the writing is astonishing. From five stars all the way down to one. On one product. I don’t think I should be posting links to Amazon product reviews here on FR so I won’t do that. But examples abound on the Amazon website if you look around.
They were written by software programs with a sub-routine which intentionally included spelling errors, etc. in order to boost versimilitude.
Now, however, the reviews from five stars on down to one star all read as though they've come straight out of Consumer Reports magazine. They are grammatically perfect with nary a typo or misspelling in sight.
The sub-routine is malfunctioning.
Regards,
If they are from China, how can they all write such idiomatically correct English? Not saying you're wrong. Just trying to get how this works.
I would like to see the link, and if you think it is very representative and useful for your thread, I don’t think the mods care.
My impression is that as long as it is sincere, and they trust your motives, linking to something like that, is OK.
Ow. You have some imagination. Ray Bradbury-ish.
Try vacuum cleaners on Amazon. Some of them have these kinds of reviews.
So that explains the review I read for the Gillette Fusion => "Long live the glorious People's Razor!"
I can understand the rich fancy folk, the kind who own vacuum cleaners, being fancy talkers and spellers with words.
You should read my Amazon reviews, check out their grits, and backscratchers section, you should be able to make out my efforts at trying to figure out where a comma goes.
OTOH, you are asking for proof cuz ya think I’m making all this up? I assure you it’s real. Somebody somewhere has written a kind of computer program that can create reviews for products on Amazon. With variables built in so they cascade from five stars down to one. But how can this be done without actual hands-on experience with, or specific knowledge of, the product in question? That’s what’s blowing me away.
If they’re being fixed by writers, or fake reviews, the value of all their reviews will plunge into the negative.
I can assure you that I wasn’t looking for proof, my post was just what it said.
Amazon is getting tons of fake reviews, I don’t know about the spelling thing, but the sellers are definitely buying reviews.
“Amazon sues to block fake reviews on its site”
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-sues-to-block-fake-reviews-on-its-site/
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