Here's a new one

[Consuelo Saah Baehr]

We've all had mischievous reviews but the one I received today  was both lazy and mischievous.  He/she copies the first line of another review, uses it as his/her review and then downgrades it a couple of stars.

I looked up his/her other reviews and noticed he had done the same thing with other books.  Or else left this  "this is a whiz bang book" over and over.  He only gives 3 stars to everything.

[ETS PRESS]

There is another recent thread on here from another author who experienced the same thing. I think the thread says something about "reviews by bots" in the subject line. It sounds like the same reviewer. I think you should report it to Amazon.

[Consuelo Saah Baehr]

I just noticed the bot went systematically through the free "best seller" list and did the same thing to all the books.

Thanks for the tip.  I do remember that thread.  I did report to Amazon.

[EllenFisher]

I do agree you should report it. Since there's a pattern, Amazon will probably remove all its reviews.

Slightly OT-- can anyone tell me what the purpose of such a bot would be? Is it just malicious, or is someone trying to accomplish something with it? I'm just curious...

[Consuelo Saah Baehr]

It's a mixed signal because he gives everyone 3 stars.  Maybe that's a ruse. (one star would be too obvious).  I don't know what to make of it.   It is the kind of thing that Amazon should want shut down.

[Millard]

I looked up his/her other reviews and noticed he had done the same thing with other books.  Or else left this  "this is a whiz bang book" over and over. 

That's a hilarious phrase at least. Like something a pupil from a 1920s English boarding school would say.

[Matt Larkin]

Well it could be someone wanted to test to see if they could get around whatever detection Amazon uses against bots. But by giving three stars, that is malicious. It'll bring down the average rating of popular books. Most people wouldn't buy a book that rates three stars.

Mostly, I only seriously look at books that have almost four stars. At least unless I've read something by the author before, or someone recommended it. I might miss something good that way, but who has time to check out everything that might be interesting.

Which means this scam is bad for me as a reader, as well as author. The bot may be stopping me from checking out something I otherwise might have...Of course if something is a bestseller a single review may not change it's average rating.