Check This Out: A Blog That Reviews Reviews?

[Stacy]

Hi All,

Or should I say, criticize and make fun of the reviewers. Classy.

http://thankyouforyourreview.blogspot.com/

Best Wishes!
http://www.stacy-deanne.net

[Dana King]

True, it's not the internet's finest moment, but...

Some of these "reviewers"could stand to be taken down a notch. They write what they want with no fear of being called to account, no matter how unfair or snarky they were. It comes down to the old question of which is worse: to be a jerk, or to point out the person is a jerk?

For the record, I want no parts of this blog, and think it would be a terrible idea for any writer to contribute in any way. It's sure to blow back on you. As the objects of the original reviews, we must be held to a higher standard. Readers, however, may be granted the full range of their expression.  ;)

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Authors who go after reviewers are just begging to be blacklisted. But if reviewing is an artform unto itself, as I think it should be (but for the most part isn't) , then there has to be at least a passing interest in critical review of reviewer.

[Jon Loomis]

Stupid reviews and stupid reviewers deserve to be skewered, and in fact there's a time-honored tradition of that kind of literary riposte in anglo-American letters. I'd be perfectly happy to be ignored by most amateur online reviewers, thank you very much.

[J W Nelson]

You invariably crack me up with such comments, Jon. Well done!  

[I. J. Parker]

Funny.  Mind you, readers are entitled to their views.  And these are from readers, not professional reviewers.  As for the critiquers: clearly they too operate on opinion rather than convincing proof.

[Stacy]

I don't believe customers on Amazon should have their reviews picked out and ridiculed by some disgruntled author. Let's be real. We know what to expect when we put our work out here! We can't expect everyone to like it or to review it with "sense". Still readers have a right to their opinions. These are customers who bought our books and spent their money on our work when they didn't have to. Why pick them out and send their name to a blog to ridicule them? That makes no sense. Soon no one will wanna review books on Amazon because of stuff like this and all the other mess that's been going on there with reviews. That's only gonna hurt authors.

I know that some people review a book to be hateful and some personally attack and some do try to target an author's work in some cases. But everyone has a right to their opinion whether we agree or not. These days authors are taking reviews way too personally. I don't understand it. It's like some writers worry too much about what some blog reviewer said than their work! We need to put time and effort into our books and not wasting time agonizing over a couple of bad Amazon reviews, or reviews we didn't agree with. Who has that kind of time? I don't. With bad reviews you gotta remember that they are just opinion and we all get them.

This blog is hypocritical. How can you snatch Amazon customer reviews and put them on your blog with the reviewer's name, yet you hide?  I'd have more respect for this blog (though I think it's ridiculous), if the person behind it had a backbone and put up a name and profile. Anyone can hide and ridicule people. They're not even talking about professional book reviewers but customers. That's what's so bad. You wanna give off the impression that customers can't spend their money on your work and be able to review it whether they like it or not?

That's the wrong impression to give and that's what this blog is doing. It's not just this blog but some authors are pitiful lately with how they are going on about bad reviews. Every day you see some author who has acted a fool over a review. If your skin is that thin you shouldn't be writing in the first place.

[I. J. Parker]

I expect it's a by-product of everyone and their grandma publishing books.  There are a lot of bad, really bad books offered on Amazon et al.

[Dana King]

Can we automatically assume the blogger in question is an author? 

If authors become subject to whatever anyone wants to say about their work once they put it out for public consumption--and they are--then why should reviewers be sacrosanct? Signing a review as 'webwiz99" is hardly placing one's identity in the public domain.

As I said before, I'm not going to participate. I'm an author, and there's no upside to arguing with a cretin. It's like wrestling with a pig: you both get dirty, and the pig likes it. On the other hand, the opinions expressed on the blog are as legitimate as those expressed in the reviews.

[I. J. Parker]

Like the pig thing.  :)