In a normal person's words: The Drama that is Amazon

Here's an eminently normal reaction to the current Amazon goings-on (the world has not gone crazy, despite what you can see on amz 'discussion' board! :-) .

[...] I for one love to review books for Amazon. I do it for the fun of it and feel I am giving a service to those who would appreciate it. I always go to Amazon for my shopping needs and when I want to find out about something, especially about a book I read the reviews by everyday people like myself. Some are informative, others look like they have been written by a five year old.

[...]

Harriet and I have a interesting history. About 5 years ago I starting noticing her reviews. I became enraged because she would post reviews for books that wouldn't come out for months in advance. How the hell did she get ARCs and galleries from publishers and authors? Were her reviews so amazing that they thought tons of people after reading her less then steller reviews, would run to the nearest book store or online website like Amazon to purchase it? I then calmed myself down and started to realize this woman could possible be a scam. Perhaps a group of people reviewing for their own means under one name? And I also started to wonder if anyone cared like I did?

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Somehow I know this is not Quality Comments^® and I'm sure this was written for free. :-)