Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Amazon Vine?

Did anyone get an invite for Amazon's newest review creation called Amazon Vine? I did **blush blush**
Do you think the invited Harriet?
God forbid she starts reviewing movies and music!!!
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8 comments:

Cathy said...

KG, good for you. It's nice to see it's not just the "top echelon" that's getting invited.

That being said, I HATE YOU! Just kidding, congrats. Anything interesting in the products being offered by the vine?

August 14, 2007 at 8:33 PM
Barbara Delaney said...

I did receive an email once from someone who told me Harriet Klausner reviewed movies for Netflix. I don't have an account with them but a friend of mine who does checked it out for me. He looked at various vampire movies which was where he expected HK to surface given her well known love of the undead, but no luck.

August 14, 2007 at 9:44 PM
Malleus said...

Netflix if full of it in the same degree as Amazon, I think. A lot of movies there sport those easily recognizable cookie-cutter, hype-infested super-positive reviews we've got used to seeing on Amazon. I suppose it's everywhere; it's just I'm not frequenting everywhere, and so it looks new whenever I notice it. But the novelty gradually wears off of course.

KG, congratulations! What is this 'Vine' thing? How's it different from normal reviews?

August 14, 2007 at 9:58 PM
KT Grant said...

Amazon sent out these invites to review certain products from books, music and dvds. It is sort of a perk for being an unbiased reviews, blah blah...
I was surprised because I am barely in the top 1000, more like 10,000. It just started today and right now there are about 5 books to choose from. On a person's profile, the have "Vine" next to it. I am not sure if Amazon got in touch with certain companies to start this? Maybe review lesser known products that don't get enough reviews?
But I wonder how many rave reviews people will put out? A cool thing is that they send you the product free of charge but you must review it!
I hope I don't have to review knives and plates at least!
Probably in another 30 years I may hit the echelon Cathy! LOL

August 15, 2007 at 2:22 PM
Malleus said...

Interesting... why "Vine" though? And yes, that's the thing: free stuff's great, but man, it comes with strings attached. Cheaper to buy exactly what you need and owe nothing to anyone. I mean, how many new books can one be really interested in? Three a year? Ten, maybe? Good stuff is rare.

August 15, 2007 at 3:37 PM
Cathy said...

FAQ on Amazon Vine:

http://forums.prosperotechnologies.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=am-custreview&msg=26948.1&ctx=0

From the DB's it appears not all of the "top echelon" got invitatons and they seem a bit miffed. It would be interesting to get an invite, but I'd hate to have to read current "pulp fiction" which I have no interest in reading.

August 15, 2007 at 8:35 PM
Malleus said...

Ah, I see, thanks for the link. Looks like an institutionalized version of the already rampant crap to me. Hopefully, I'm wrong of course. Here's the part I liked the most:

"Am I required to write reviews about all the Vine products I select?

To continue to be an active member of the Vine program, you must write reviews. Once you have three outstanding products for which you have not yet written a review, you will no longer be eligible to receive products until you post at least one review."

The old question comes to mind: are the fuckers being paid for this or is it basically an ego-trip thing? Officially they're not paid, and moreover, reselling is forbidden (Mark-O and Gunny will be displeased -- though who's gonna enforce that rule, I wonder, and how).

August 16, 2007 at 2:16 PM
Malleus said...

Actually, if these guys will somehow be identified as reviewing on demand, I'll have no problem with the program. A hired dog must wear a tag. It's when they pretend to be oh, you know, just another reader, someone like you, that it annoys me.

August 16, 2007 at 2:44 PM

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