David Oakford strikes back!

Haven't seen this yet. Lack of ethics and a feeble mind, combined with a blissful absence of awareness of the two: such is the psychological portrait of an aspiring writer who's just made his entrance on one of the Amz comments section.

Check out the exchange between our old friend Gregory Callahan and poster 'David'. Here's a guy who openly threatens a commenter with retaliation for commenting under a review of his book. Mind you, comments are about a review, not the book itself (not that there would be anything wrong the other way too). Finally, for the lazy readers, here's a quote:

David writes:
Gregory,

Since you seem to think it is OK to spam and conduct personal attacks through comments on other people's reviews, I've decided to hit every one of your reviews with the same type of thing you've done to this review. I mean, you must think it is OK because you do it.

You can avert all of this by removing your comment from my review, then and only then will I stop spamming your reviews. You want dialogue, you got it.

Aaaaand.... here's a few signs showing that poster 'David' is fully intended to make good on his threats ! Incidentally, poster 'David' apparently has no problem with um... reviewing his own books and, yes, you guessed it, giving them top, five-star ratings.

Quoth Albert Einstein: "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Truly so, eh?

Reincarnation

MM (Marie), the indisputable queen of jabberwocky, has apparently made good on her threat to disappear and return as a sockpuppet. All of her recent cryptic utterances have been deleted by author, though now under the nom de plume of "Sarah Goldberg." I wonder if Sarah will post her future comments not in adolescent "code," but in intelligible English. Can she? Will she? Inquiring minds want to know.

A note from a blog reader

We've received a letter (btw, if you -- I'm addressing the collective passerby commenter here -- if you email to us with your comments and you'd like your name quoted, mention that: otherwise we'll protect your privacy).

I just discovered your blog and am reading through the archieves. [...]

On your post talking about the delete/repost feature wiping out all comments [probably this?] [...]:

The delete/repost issue you are discussing was instigated when a top 100 reviewer was found to be deleting and reposting the same 5 or 6 reviews over and over again to gain more votes and climb the ladder.

So, while it now helps people bury comments, it was started to keep people from cheating.

Someone had already proposed this, I think. So, OK, perhaps (though who knows). So? Besides, I have a hard time believing in Amazon's intolerance toward cheating: just look at what Our Friends Top Reviewers do -- like, for example, 'reviewing' piles of books daily, all rated five stars. Robert Morris seems especially active lately, check him out -- this man reads (and highlights!) way too many books too quickly it seems to me. Likes them all! Of course.

Actually, W.Boudville picked up some speed too. Soon he'll be at his previous level, reading a dozen books a day.

Another Doubting Thomas

N.Brett writes:

... this review seems to be mainly lifted from the book jacket or a publishers brief ...

Why can't people believe that Harriet actually does read five hundred books a day and that her reviews are absolutely rivitting?

Quality Comments (TM)

Bradley Stewart, author of Kayak Reef, writes:

Brad Stewart
This review leaves you drooling for more of A Perfect Grave.

Very insightful discription.

Bradley Stewart, author of Kayak Reef.

!!! ;-)

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Oops, that wasn't all. Check out Bradley's own book Kayak Reef (Eye of the Arctic). Notice the reviews -- except for one sharp-eyed passerby, they're all by single-review reviewers (I'm sorry, those look like sock-puppet accounts to me), plus a review by poster "Brad Stewart "zire" (zire)", purportedly the author's son. There must be a cabal of wannabe writers who first, self-review, and second, join the ranks of the Quality Comments^TM posters. The book's been published by something called Searchlight Publishing an outfit with a rather cheesey and disfunctional website, probably (ahem) not one of the major publishing houses.

Boudville The Financial Engineer

More financial advice from W.Boudville! His insightful review of the book Mortgage-Backed Securities: Products, Structuring, and Analytical Techniques (Frank J. Fabozzi Series) is now available for your edification and viewing pleasure.

... Much other space in the book explains how the cash flow can be divided into tranches. Different ones based on differing yields and risk.

A cynical reader might surmise that the implementation of ideas like those in the book have contributed to the recent turmoil in the mortgage industry. Aiding and abetting.

Rivitting!

Grady Harp's day job

First, let me say that KrossD brought this to my attention. After reading it carefully I emailed the artist involved in this incident. He responded to my inquiry promptly and verified the facts. He told me that the ordeal with Grady Harp had soured him on art dealers and that his primary outlet for his beautiful paintings and drawings is now directly through his studio.

This letter Wim wrote to ArtSpace 2000 is his account of his dealings with Grady Harp's gallery. It is not pleasant reading. I'm not sure how many of you are aware that KrossD is a gifted artist and is knowledgeable about galleries, artist's contracts, etc. Read what Wim has to say about his encounter with one of Amazon's "top" reviewers. It's an eye opener.

Another Ave Atque from Harp coming soon ?

Pavarotti died. The best tenor of our times, rest in piece peace [thank you, Barbara :-)].

Hiding traces

Poster Reggie wiped out all his comments in this Harp thread. Reggie, don't you want you voice to be preserved for posterity? Strange action! Yet it reminds me of someone...

Dear old Harriet reviews SEVENTY-FIVE (75) books today.

Seventy-five on Sept 4; overall in September (which is not quite four-days old as of right now), Harriet Klausner reviewed eighty (80) books. That is twenty books a day on average.

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Off topic: Captain, ave atque vale. Schadenfroh.