Gunshy

I've been getting the feeling lately that there's something fishy with Amazon's star ratings for its many products. I noticed not only feedback that sounds generic, mechanical, and possibly computer (AI) generated but star ratings on the search results page that don't seem to jibe with the product page.

Well today took the cake. I saw an ad here for the upcoming "Smile" DVD release, got excited and clicked on over to Amazon to check it out for pre-order and what do I see? It's got a 5-star rating on the search results page - and so it should as it's a cool little flick. Only thing is, there are no reviews for it! Umkay, so where did that rating come from Mr. Bezos?

Anyone else notice this? What do you think it means? I think it's kinda shady myself.



-Gunshy

marty888

The rating may very well be for the movie itself, based on reviews for the VHS release.

Lee Harvey Oswald

Their ratings are a sham, but its because of the reviewers. I was looking at the ratings for Metal Gear Solid for PS2 and there were a ton of 5 star ratings with reviews that said "This is going to rock" "I can't wait for this game". That is called previewing, not reviewing.

young

there are some bad reviews/previews, but overall, the system works. especially if you put in your 2cents.

i read an article in the nytimes about how authors will post reviews for themselves under pseudonyms... it was kind of funny.