On 12/2/2015 6:58 AM, CRNG wrote:
Anybody else here run in to something like this?

I often buy repair related items (tools, etc) from Amazon, and I
consider the reviews an important decision element. While browsing
yesterday, I happen to stumble upon this non-repair related item when
doing a search with the word "emergency" in it

http://www.amazon.com/Writer-Emergen...DateDescending

I was curious so I read about it and noticed that the vast majority of
the 4/5 star reviews were clustered in March and November of 2015 and
that few if any of those reviewers were verified purchasers.

I've written a few hundred reviews for Amazon products so I though
nothing of writing a review questioning the review statistics of this
product. It was very brief simply questioning what had caused that
clustering of 4/5 star reviews around those very few time periods.

I was very surprised to find my review rejected. It was the first
rejection I have ever received for an Amazon review. Apparently
questioning the Amazon review process is a no-no. Amazon wrote

- Your review should focus on specific features of the product and
your experience with it. Feedback on the seller or your shipment
experience should be provided at www.amazon.com/feedback.

which sounds reasonable, except that to leave "feedback" you have to
actually buy the product. It also indicates to me that they devote a
lot of effort to identifying reviews that are critical of their
product review process.

Amazon wants to SELL products. They are far less likely to want to
encourage behaviors that work *counter* to that!

The fact that they even allow "unverified reviews" is a sleazy practice.
Gee, with the volume of sales that they report, they can't find
bonafide customers to testify regarding the products that they sell?

Verifying a purchase is also something that can EASILY be automated;
no need for a human to review the review to determine if it is
appropriate.