Friday, March 2, 2012

Deception from Those We Pay to Trust

In past blogs I have discussed the amazing lengths that some authors go to in attempts to appear better than they are. In watching these trends on Amazon the mistreatment of readers emerges as a pastime of some authors. It is true that you cannot please all the people all the time, but it is as true that everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if their opinion is negative toward an author's book. Of late I have seen more and more attacks directed personally and viscously at those who write negative reviews.

It works like this: The reader writes a less than shining review then the comments on their review immediately begin to stack up with personal attacks obviously posted by the author under other names and friends of the author sent to do character assassination. One review will draw 6 to 8 attacks within hours of the post. Most will begin by accusing the reviewer of knowing nothing about the subject they are reviewing. Uninformed, ignorant, and simply wrong will be the beginning themes to the comments. Amazon continues to allow this to happen over and over. If the original reviewer attempts to defend himself or herself the comments get more and more personal and caustic. It seems the most rude person wins the contest of being right in their opinion.

It is reasonable that an author will have an outspoken fan or two, but most defend their favorite author with less than personal insults and attacks toward the reviewer. It is not reasonable that any author should be rewarded for such unethical behavior. The worst part of this activity is that it is occurring more often than not from writers and translators of religious book. These are men and women ask for our trust by presenting themselves as "Scholars" and "religious authorities." Watch for commits connected with negative reviews. If there are multiple comments attacking the reviewer do not reward this type of behavior. Buy another book. Books from such an author cannot be trusted anyway.

Joseph Lumpkin