# RIP Harriet Klausner **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 25, 2015, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-harriet-klausner/735699 "2015-10-25T05:02:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-harriet-klausner/735699/1 "2015-10-25T05:02:16Z")
Someone just sent me a link. Harriet Klausner was a top Amazon reviewer. I think for a number of years she was number one. She reviewed like 1000 books a year, and liked everything. Or I guess if she didn’t like it, she didn’t review it. I hadn’t seen any reviews from her lately. I am sad about this because even though she often mangled the plots and got the characters’ names wrong, she got the reviews out there and probably helped a lot of us in the mystery world. Apparently she died 10/15 but I only just heard. Apologies if there was already a thread. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-harriet-klausner/735699/2 "2015-10-25T12:03:39Z")
I’m the DeatnMistress of the SDMB’s Deathpool, also of a deathpool on another message board. Nobody had Klausner over there, but one poster did mention her. I’d never heard of the person. This is their quote. _I doubt anyone had Harriet Klausner. She was famous for her thousands of book “reviews” – Amazon’s #1 Reviewer for several years – and then famous again after a backlash caused Amazon to revamp its reviewer ranking system._ ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-harriet-klausner/735699/3 "2015-10-25T12:11:44Z")
She was probably a pseudonym or created character. fake reviews are a big problem now…who reviews the reviewers? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-harriet-klausner/735699/4 "2015-10-25T14:07:53Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Someone just sent me a link. Harriet Klausner was a top Amazon reviewer. I think for a number of years she was number one. She reviewed like 1000 books a year, and liked everything. Or I guess if she didn’t like it, she didn’t review it. > > I hadn’t seen any reviews from her lately. > > I am sad about this because even though she often mangled the plots and got the characters’ names wrong, she got the reviews out there and probably helped a lot of us in the mystery world. > > Apparently she died 10/15 but I only just heard. Apologies if there was already a thread. Assuming she was in fact a real human … I’d never heard of the lady and it’s always sad when anyone dies, but … How does a reviewer who processes 3 or 4 books per day, confuses them all up and likes all of them “help a lot of us in the mystery world?” Unless you mean the “lot of us” are low-ranking authors anxious for anyone to notice your work. It sure doesn’t sound like she did the readership any good. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-harriet-klausner/735699/5 "2015-10-25T14:57:16Z")
No, she did no one any good, but getting “Klausnerized” became a sort of rite of passage. She also sold the unread review copies and made something close to $20K a year doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-harriet-klausner/735699/6 "2015-10-25T16:57:39Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Assuming she was in fact a real human … > > I’d never heard of the lady and it’s always sad when anyone dies, but … > > **How does a reviewer who processes 3 or 4 books per day, confuses them all up and likes all of them “help a lot of us in the mystery world?”** > > Unless you mean the “lot of us” are low-ranking authors anxious for anyone to notice your work. It sure doesn’t sound like she did the readership any good. Well, you’re looking for something new to read. And here’s a book by an author you never heard of and it has a five-star review. I think she may have done a lot of reviews even before amazon. People noticing your work is how you get from a low-ranking author to a high-ranking author.