Friday, March 14, 2008

Voting Stopped in Harp's Realm (?)

What's going on? It's been another day without votes, positive or negative, cast in the Harp reviews threads. A lone neg (and perhaps helpful) is being given to everyone (MM?), but only one, nothing else appears; all comments are left untouched with a small number of helpful-only votes. This is unprecedented!

Also, as if to confuse the picture even further, there appeared a couple of totally new Harp-critical posters... What's going on?

37 comments:

Cathy said...

Not only that, but he hasn't posted a review since the 10th if I'm not mistaken? He's usually a one or two reveiw a day reveiwer. Somethings up.

Malleus said...

Yep. I'll borrow a couple of comments from under the last review there (Strap In, Hang On):

Stanley H. Nemeth says:
Where are the Harp votes of yesteryear? Is Harp, along with the entire NGHVM, simply on vacation, or is Amazon responding at last to the complaints against the vote inflation obvious to the eyes of all save such holdouts as L.E. Cantroll and MM whatever? Inquiring minds want to know.


The Ghost of M says:
Wow. Well, I'm speechless. Just one vote added since yesterday, and even that 'unhelpful', plus another neg for everyone -- but that's it!. Hmmmm... All that was solid melts into air.

Stanley H. Nemeth wrote:
> is Amazon responding at last to the
> complaints against the vote inflation
> obvious to the eyes of all save such
> holdouts as L.E. Cantroll and MM whatever?

I think it's Amazon, as always on the sly, nothing in the open, just quietly cleaning up the act w/o owning up to anything, kinda like MM's wiping out her own comments an hour after posting.

And btw, I wonder if the amazing perceptory shifts in some of the participants here that you refer to -- along with the sudden intervention by a couple of previously unknown posters we observed yesterday -- has been due to their learning some kind of inside information.

Remember how the previously massive use of the delete/repost trick suddenly subsided a couple of months ago? Obviously something had happened then, but as far as an explaination from Amazon, not a word. Probably same thing here.

Cathy said...

There certainly more new "faces" speaking up these days, and not only on the GH topics, but at the Harriet comments as well.

Amazon should just fess up and deal with it -- they look like fools perpetuating this myth of a one woman reviewing machine. Does anyone really believe she sells books?

Malleus said...

She (i.e. her 'reviews') may very well be selling books, why not? She posts blurbs, which is information about books; someone could look and see what the book's about; and then, she always rates her books positively, which, I'm sure sells books too.

But whether she sells books or not isn't the point. The point is, one, she doesn't read what she reviews 'cause it's simply waaaay too much to read; two, what she posts isn't reviews; and three, even though she's seemingly read every book on earth, she gave every one five/four stars, which we know cannot be. She's a publishers' shill, that is the point. How well she's shilling is of no concern to the public: it's enough to know that she's trying to deceive us.

Cathy said...

BTW and OT, have you seen the recent thread at the DB's? Someone's complaining about being shut down from commenting about reviews, and they're being quite nasty about it. If you read through the person's second or third post I think you'll know who it might be. It sounds like the person who has been aggresive (overly so IMO) at the TaylorX reviews.

Not that I'm in any way defending TaylorX, because the little I've seen of his nasty comments they are unaccebtable, but this other person has carried it over the edge as well. Check it out.

Malleus said...

Oh crap. This guy doesn't know that the Amazon "Discussion Board" is a dung pile overrun by trolling "top reviewers". The phoney freaks are out in numbers, Mr Fantastic is gonna get hurt. Must everyone go through this? Ladies and gentlemen, do NOT go to the Amazon "Discussion Boards" expecting to have a reasonable, um... well, discussion.

Malleus said...

Btw, when checking out this thread (on the board there), notice the posts by L. Fleisig. A different man, eh? I mean where did his almost-reasonable, gentlemanly persona he used in the Harp commentary go. Check it out, this amazing two-facedness is curious.

Cathy said...

I must be losing my mind, I can't see it anymore. Did someone make it go away?

Barbara Delaney said...

You do know that Mr. Fantastic is/was a good friend of MM's? She is most sad at his passing. She gravitates to the FTF/Amfibsy types.

Stanley H Nemeth said...

Where Is Grady Harp? Has he, like Marie MM earlier, gone off to address a seminar, devoted in this case to the subject of "How to Win Friends and Influence Voting Totals?" Or could he have been hospitalized? He's no spring chicken, after all, and such intensive daily posting as he engages in is sure to have taken its toll. Or could Amazon the Ingrate have called his vote totals to account, only to have him refusing temporarily to post new reviews as a form of cut off one's nose to spite one's face protest? So many possibilities, so little information forthcoming. Still, inquiring minds want to know.

Cathy said...

I'm not sure where Grady Harp has gone to, but I firmly believe our "dear" Marie has resurfaced under the Harriet threads in a new, more seriously written identity. I could be wrong, but the writing style is so similar to the the few times she tried to post in a serious manner under the GH threads I suspect it's her. Or perhaps the family has locked her in a padded room?

Whether or not I pick up instant negative votes for posting this comment should prove or disprove my theory.

As for Grady, anyone living in LA want to drop by his gallery and see if he's in business?

Stanley H Nemeth said...

Cathy:
If he doesn't resurface with new reviews by Sunday evening, I'll pass by the gallery Monday to see if I can pick up some dope on why he's disappeared.
Pasadena, happily, is not so far from my O.C. location.

Cathy said...

Thanks Stanley. My goodness, I haven't been following the comments oh GH's review of Poor Boy's Game --I have to admit when the comments go over 10+ I sometimes skip them as things go on over and over. My my my, what a tangled web we weave, and I firmly agree with SAM that MM has started herself a new identity.

I might also add that someone also consistently hits me with negative votes within hours of posting any review and I cannot possibly imagine anyone else who it might be. Whatever, the instant neg helps get one into the spotlight as well as the instant helpful. I've thanked her repeatedly in my review comments, but it goes way over her head. Oh well....

Malleus said...

> I firmly agree with SAM that MM has
> started herself a new identity.
New identity but with the same name, now that's inventive. :-)

Barbara Delaney said...

Have you noticed that the beret wearing gibberish speaking "jfoureur" has disappeared along with Grady Harp? But it couldn't be that they're the same person...oh no, that's something no honest person would do.

Cathy said...

"New identity but with the same name, now that's inventive."

I'm guessing she re-worked the Rachel ID. New country, lost any amazon friends and interesting people, tagged some books wrote some reviews, etc.

I know that the first "Rachel" had commented on Marie's reviews (ROFL), so I looked at her reviews by most recent comment it appears there's been a massive deletion. Wonder why, see for yourself http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3SYE6NEO8VSU0?sort_by=MostRecentComment&display=public&x=3&y=9

The only way to know for sure is to find an old Rachel posting and click on the profile. I searched for a bit with no luck.

Oops, she's just changed another. What was originally Henry the 8th, which then became Sharon S (I think that was it) is now Jeff G. I know because I didn't want to lose track of Henry the 8th and saved it on my favorites. I just pulled it up with the new name.

Malleus said...

Amazing. Inexplicable. Mysterious.

Stanley H Nemeth said...

People:
Just imagine what it might have been like growing up in MM's house. Everyday you come home from school, and your mom's somebody else. Then by the time you reach puberty, it suddenly hits you that even though you're named Rachel, you're actually a boy. Wow! This would be dynamite stuff even for Jerry Springer.

Cathy said...

Stanley, I'm not sure that even Jerry Springer could handle this one.

Be careful when you stoll into LA this week -- remember to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain :-)

Malleus said...

Maestro is back with a review of Tracy Kidder's My Detachment. It's been a couple of hours after posting and NO VOTES -- yes I said no votes, not a single one. My instincts suggest that normally by now it would be something like 7 of 9 and taking a break before the second pass to end at about 19 of 21 by the end of the day.

Barbara Delaney said...

There are votes now and what's more the discussion on "Poor Man's Game" has been taken down at Marie's request. See, friendship does have it's priveliges. I think we should move the discussion to Harriet's review site. We all know HK wouldn't take a review down for anyone. MM wrote to Grady crying and sniveling about the comments which revealed to the Amazon world just a fraction of her lies and false identities. I suppose he placed a high value on her Amazon "friendship". After all, how many of your friends can vote for you as many times as the pernicious and dishonest Marie?

Stanley H Nemeth said...

All the worst features of Amazon are back. Harp's 2 newly posted reviews are getting small but familiar in sync votes. Reposting has served its convenient coverup purpose in the deletion of the frequently blistering comments over "Poor Boy's Game," many directed at the absurdities of Harp's fake vote totals, Cantrell's fake "skepticism" towards the causes concerning such, and Marie Whatever's fondness for ground shifting and lying. Well, looking at the bright side, given the price of gasoline out here, these developments save me from the promised drive into West Hollywood for an incognito visit to the Lizardi/Harp art gallery. Harp and Company are alive and well in Amazon land, it would appear. Let's see though if the vote total absurdites expand pretty quickly to their usual "surreal" numbers. If they don't, then formerly hands off parent Amazon, we may assume, has to some extent reined the Old Pretender in. Hope springs eternal.

Barbara Delaney said...

I left a comment on the newly submitted review of "Poor Boy's Game" and referenced the eighty-nine removed comments. What a crybaby Marie M. is! The next time Cantrell wants to talk about who can't take it....Marie M.'s name should appear in neon. So many people are on to her now. I was happy to hear from Mr. Davis, one of the victims of scheming Marie. She went after him months ago after an innocuous comment he had made on Grady's site. The comment had nothing at all to do with MM, as she called herself then. But she squealed like a stuck pig and started accusing him of everything under the sun! Then she went after his reviews and made some disgusting comments . They were filled with the kind of nasty innuendo that MM specialized in. It seemed a big part of her "I no speekee the english" act was in order to get away with saying things under the pretence of being too stupid to know what she was saying. If you look at her frequent comments on the reviews of Betty Dravis all of the "naaaaa" and "nonnie noo noo" crap is gone. How's that for a personality change? But she still makes moronic comments on Mr. Fantastic/Dr. Incredible's reviews...unless they've been deleted. I hope people will send her latest name changes to the blog. Please, those of you who watch MM as she morphs and acquires new identities, send the information here. I'd like to track the beast.

Malleus said...

Oh yeah, it's back to normal, whew! And there's a new sock puppet there, "Black Irish Latina", that was set up very recently, probably today. I wonder who that might be. ;-) ;-)

Barbara Delaney said...

The lying Marie can't go a few hours without making things up. I guess she goes through a form of withdrawal. How many nationalities has Marie M. now claimed? She's Amazon's own mini-United Nations. She's been Turkish, Australian, Jewish, Latin, Irish, and Texan, (Marie is so proud of that one and seems to think it's a real badge of honor)....let's all sing a chorus of It's a Small World in honor of Amazon's biggest liar.

Stanley H Nemeth said...

Yeah, Marie's like a third-rate Victorian novelist. She assumes the prerogative of loquacity without having very much to talk about. And more damning, even though busted, she still lacks terminal ability.

Barbara Delaney said...

I think her latest persona comes as close to the real Marie as any have to this point. Gone are the days of babytalk and sandboxes and "my mommy says", enter the foulmouthed guttersnipe. The real Marie has shown her true colors at last.

Malleus said...

Don't get too much into it though. Trolling of this sort is precisely intended to get everyone up in arms and involved, and thus redirect the conversation from something meaningful into a squabble. It's done on the 'discussion board' all the time. Careful.

Stanley H Nemeth said...

Malleus:
Fair enough. Marie clearly operates by instinct on the principle articulated long ago by Oscar Wilde: "the only thing worse than being talked about is NOT being talked about." Happily, she's been successfully "exploded" by several commentators. Nowadays, with the ample rope her new persona comes equipped with, she's become quickly adept at hanging herself. With the exception of "ex-eagle" and possibly the hopeless Cantrell and the self-centered Harp, does she have any supporters other than her own 4 or 5 fake accounts? She's the last of an old gang of gleeful miscreants. Ave atque vale, as Grady is so fond of saying.

Barbara Delaney said...

Stan,

I thought everyone knew...she IS exeagle. She thought the persona of an African American retired NFL player would be perfect. Read "his" reviews and you'll see what I mean.

By the way, her latest comment about how she has no interest in the item being reviewed, would never "buys" it, and barely read the review yet voted on it illustrates perfectly all that we've been saying about the Harp reviews and his voting ring. With friends like her Harp doesn't need enemies. It was quite a damning statement.

Malleus said...

Ave atque, yeah :-) But right now, we're in media res as Maestro is also known to say. MM (et al., as Maestro likes to say too) is currently flooding the place with garbage, resurrecting three-year-old reviews by comments like "great review". :-) Let MM be busy this way...

Malleus said...

> By the way, her latest comment about how she
> has no interest in the item being reviewed,
> would never "buys" it, and barely read
> the review yet voted on it illustrates
> perfectly all that we've been saying about
> the Harp reviews and his voting ring.

Yep. A very amazing statement, I thought exactly like you when I saw it. I hope it doesn't get deleted :-) ...

Stanley H Nemeth said...

Barbara:
How dense of me not to see that Marie, among her personas, is also ex-eagle. The familiar stylistic infelicities - now you've called my attention to them - are dead giveaways, "y'all." Our Marie, sadly, is becoming the Britney Speers of Amazon. The "Hamlet" question arises: Is she really mad, or only feigning madness? I wonder at this point if Grady is second guessing the wisdom of having deleted his first posting for "Poor Boy's Game." Can he actually be proud that such an embarrassing, foul-mouthed troll as Marie is his chief defender these days? Moreover, he's wound up unwittingly giving her even more than she had initially to feel sorry for herself and whiny about.

Malleus said...

Did she ask GH to delete/repost this particular review? Via a comment or how was it done?

Malleus said...

Votes and negs are coming in, though very slowly (by usual standards; they're still too synchronised compared with what happens in the case of untampered voting).

I still don't understand the reason for bumping old reviews forward. He must be using a voting help (bot?) that hits only the first page or something like that. Or, alternatively, that hits a pageful of reviews, rather than a number of isolated reviews selected from various places... since bumping a number of old, low-vote, reviews forward is the only way to assemble them all on a single page, they bump them forward. Something like that... All I know is that a bunch of old, low-vote reviews got bumped forward today.

Cathy said...

From the few that I looked at, BIL AKA Marie MM bumped them forward with a comment about great review. I suspected she wanted to cover the current discussions up.

Malleus said...

I think you're right, she's definitiely moving old reviews forward like a bulldoser. It's a lot of work, so good. Very easy to undo too. Great.