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Amazon dropping comments but leaving stars?
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message 1:
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Ellen
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Oct 12, 2020 08:01PM
A writing colleague just posted on a different forum I'm on that she's noticed reviews on Amazon vanishing but the star ratings remaining. Has anyone else seen this? Any ideas about what's happening? Thanks!
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Something new Amazon started. You can leave a star rating without a comment.
It might take the number of ratings up but I've found that there's been a couple of two star ratings without knowing who dropped them. Possibly not in authors' best interests but handy for readers who don't have time nor the inclination to write something. It's following Goodreads way of doing things but Amazon, allowing anonymity, is not such a good idea in my opinion.
I noticed my count went up but didn't see a review but could not find just a rating. At least on goodreads you can see the rating.
I have been perplexed by this, too. A two star rating for my book showed up on Amazon, but when I looked for it among the reviews, there was no listing. Additionally, I think that when a book has consistently good reviews and someone posts a two-star review, it would be considerate to briefly mention why: were the characters unrealistic? was the plot trite?, etc. Reading sincere criticism can help an author to grow.Several months ago, I read a comment by one well-known author who said that after twice receiving one or two star reviews because the "packaging the book came in was poorly done," for example, she no longer read her reviews. It's a valid point.
I received a 1-star rating on Goodreads once. It did have a written review. When I checked the reviewer, he had nothing but 1-star reviews. He seemed like a troll of some kind. He questioned the legitimacy of all my 4 and 5 star reviews. Said they were probably phony (which they weren't). I just had to ignore it, but it made me think about why people do things just to be mean and hurtful! Especially to a stranger. I didn't come up with any answers.
I, too, have noticed this. I want to know why and if Amazon doesn't think it's important for me to find out, then they were random outliers by trolls. Unfortunately, the buyer doesn't see it that way.
Janna wrote: "I received a 1-star rating on Goodreads once. It did have a written review. When I checked the reviewer, he had nothing but 1-star reviews. He seemed like a troll of some kind. He questioned the le..."People just suck isn't an effective answer. Just asking for a friend.
A long time ago (ahem) I received a poor review which was liked by many others - I can't remember the details. I traced the reviewer back to someone who had just been bereaved. It stopped me hurting. I think this is a rarity though. But it does flag up that when people are hurting, they can lash out.
Anna, that's an excellent point. In other cases, though, I wish there was a place on Amazon where an author could report incidents like the one Janna describes in message six.
I haven't time at this moment to check but I think there is a 'report' button if you follow reviews to the 'All reviews' page.
Frances and Anna, the review I received was on Goodreads. I may have gotten off topic a bit. I decided to just let the review go, but it is hurtful sometimes when I run across it. It is so ugly and accuses me of cheating using false reviews. If I recall correctly, it says the reviews were checked out by some website and rated false. I think I looked at the website at the time and it seemed to be run by the same guy, but I'm not sure about that.
I received a very low rating once that still sticks out in my mind. The reviewer seemed to know a lot about 19th century England (the setting of my book) and was taking me to task for one sentence in my book that indicated a lead character visited a particular kind of store on a Sunday. The reviewer was right, this store would not have been open on a Sunday. But this minute detail had nothing to do with the plot. Also included in her review was a criticism that I seemed to have become confused about my own plot line. All it told me was that she was skimming the book by halfway through and had missed the MAJOR PLOT TWIST that I spent an entire page on. What could I do? I know you are not supposed to reply to reviews. I'm stuck with a review that says I don't understand the story I've written.
Janna wrote: "I received a 1-star rating on Goodreads once. It did have a written review. When I checked the reviewer, he had nothing but 1-star reviews. He seemed like a troll of some kind. He questioned the le..."I had that too! All five stars, then I get a really lousy, mean one star questioning all my five stars for a family-oriented book. So mean... who are these people and how do they sleep at night? In all seriousness, I chalked it up to being a right of passage as an author. :)
Janna, that should never have happened to you. (Message 6)Janna, Shana, and Lisa, I don't think your experiences need to be chalked up as rites of passage. Since the reviews were on Goodreads, could you reach out to a moderator in one of these groups: Authors/Readers; Good Reviews; or Making Connections, and relate what happened? I communicated with Tana, one of the moderators on Making Connections once on an unrelated matter, and she helped me. I don't understand why a deliberately disparaging review can't be removed.
The best of luck.
That sounds the right thing to do, Frances.
Frances, maybe so. I'll look into it. Thanks. I have comforted myself with the fact that all the really successful authors have gotten terrible reviews. Many of them at the start of their careers, and from high-profile reviewers. Some of the classics that are considered great literature today received terrible reviews when they were written. I don't know if I'm allowed to put a link in here, but you can google and find some good examples. Any kind of art requires a thick skin and a vulnerable soul -- both at the same time!
Anna wrote: "I haven't time at this moment to check but I think there is a 'report' button if you follow reviews to the 'All reviews' page."The All Reviews does not show the missing reviews.
Shana wrote: "I received a very low rating once that still sticks out in my mind. The reviewer seemed to know a lot about 19th century England (the setting of my book) and was taking me to task for one sentence ..."I had a 'reviewer' who gave away the whole story. So I updated my MS text and on my amazon blurb, I dated it. This shows you have fixed (or not) the problem and it was after the bad review.
My low star reviewer also gave away most of the story - it does feel like they're not on your side!
I received a terrific review on Amazon, but the reviewer gave it one star.
Reviews are such fragile things. I have many five star reviews that buoyed my confidence and many 1 star reviews that have crushed my feelings. the trick is to take them all with a grain of salt. My books are all pretty clean and one review said she had read my book and was horrified at the sexual content. After I investigated I learned there was another writer named Marie Martin. I reported it and amazon wouldn't take it down. I got to thinking about the whole thing and maybe it wasn't so bad because after all sex sells. My point is after you have a few thousand reviews those one or two star reviews lose their sting.
I think I can explain the mystery.... Now for kindles, when you get to the end of the book, Amazon puts up a review page/star rating question. I think that's why we are seeing a lot more reviews being added currently. However, it's an option to leave a word review.. so I think more people are leaving stars because they are prompted to do so.. but they don't have to write anything.As for low reviews.. don't worry.. my favourite one for my book, Bradley and the Dinosaur is 'Senseless Story'. That makes me chuckle.. it's a two star review, and I was a bit mortified when it first appeared, but now I treat it like a friend. :0). Obviously, if all your reviews are 3-star and under then maybe there's an issue with the book... but low ratings I think add a bit more tone to your backdrop of 5 star reviews... and a book with a few 1 2 or 3 star reviews is not going to fare badly, especially when it's plain to see if that bad review is unkind or justified.
I am not sure that Amazon is removing reviews. Whenever I purchase something through Amazon - whether books or anything else -I am usually e-mailed asking me to review the purchase.However, it is possible to leave a "star rating" without writing a review. As someone mentioned, on Kindle, you're often asked to give such a rating at the end of a book, and when I receive e-mail links, I often have the option of only giving a rating without the review.
Someone left me a one star and I can't find the review for it
Ellen wrote: "A writing colleague just posted on a different forum I'm on that she's noticed reviews on Amazon vanishing but the star ratings remaining. Has anyone else seen this? Any ideas about what's happenin..."Yes, we have noticed it, too. As ours was a five-star rating, we thought perhaps it was something to do with the reviewer's privacy settings rather than a deliberate attempt to remain anonymous.
Ratings without reviews is not new - for at least 3 years now when I reach the end of a book on my kindle, there is a pop screen asking me to give a star rating (no review necessary). Amazon has collected that data for years and is now showing it on the product page. I'm not sure why there is such a fuss over it?
A., I have had a similar thing happen: a two star rating suddenly showed up, with no accompanying review, identification, etc. When I looked through my reviews I couldn’t find anything. It was puzzling. If this is standard procedure, I understand. But I haven’t had it happen before.
