I read a book last night on my Kindle. When I had finished, I felt strongly motivated to write a review, so I did. Since I’ve reviewed a lot of books now on Amazon, when I write one now it is posted immediately without needing to wait for moderation.
Okay, so last night when I posted the review, it appeared at the top of the review section. (I have always assumed this was the default, and that the most recent simply went to the top like, oh I don’t know, pretty much everywhere else.)
Looking back at the review tonight, I noticed the one I had written was now at the bottom. (There are only three anyway.) Well, I thought, it’s not unreasonable that an author be able to order the reviews as they please – trying to put their best foot forward or whatever.
But at the end of the reviews, there is a button that says: “See all 3 customer reviews (newest first).”
When I clicked that link, the three reviews still appeared in the same order – one from the 6th of October, followed by one from the 4th of October, followed by mine from the 18th of October.
What’s the deal? As I said, I understand the reviews appearing in a preferred order on the first page; but if the page purporting to have them in the actual order received is also “fixable,” then what is the point of having customer reviews at all? Couldn’t somebody selling a bad product simply relegate any negative reviews to the basement?
I’ve noticed my default display of book reviews on Amazon now is they are arranged according to “TOP”, which may reflect reviews getting the most favorable votes, but downgrades newer reviews. You have to specify newest first to get the latest ones at the top of the pile.
And yes, the “TOP” qualifier makes it easy for people campaigning for a particular author or point of view to skew the reviews the way they want.
Yes. One of Amazon’s core principles is that descriptions and other product information should be honest (even if unflattering) and clear for the consumer.
It’s simple logic, if you think about it. Weigh one author against the public perception that Amazon reviews make it easier to separate good products from bad. Even losing a bunch of top-selling authors would be preferable to people thinking your review system is rigged (and thus going to other sites, almost all of whom now have customer review feature).
Amazon culture includes a strong element of “we’re big enough to do what we want” in pursuit of customer satisfaction. So far, it’s worked out pretty d*mn well.