A very interesting post, Catherine, thank you. I had no idea this was happening. I never buy a book based on anyone's rating unless there's a thoughtful review attached. As you've discovered, it's just too easy to click on a number and move on.
Wow Catherine as a Young adult/Adult librarian I read a lot of books and I do not really like writing reviews, uncomfortable with writing better at telling. I will now go back and jot down something on my favorites so that readers know I stand behind the ratings..Disappointing also because I use goodreads a lot to recommend books to patrons thought it was better than Amazon as they are not selling...