i suspect they’ve mostly been deleting reviews from people who didn’t actually buy the book.
of the current 200 some odd 1-star reviews, only 2 purchased the book from amazon, which means it’s highly likely almost none of the other “reviewers” purchased it at all.
when I look at reviews on amazon, i automatically look at only verified purchasers. who knows what the motivations of the rest of the “reviewers” are or whether they actually used or bought the item they’re “reviewing” at all.
“i suspect they’ve mostly been deleting reviews from people who didn’t actually buy the book.”
Hence the article’s comment: “The online retail giant has a “verified purchase” option to signpost whether reviewers have bought a product, and none of the 42 reviewers leaving comments on Tuesday had done so.” I’m with only allowing reviews by people who actually purchased the product in question.