Free Speech & The Internet
Cap'n Ed is talking about "reader posted" reviews at Amazon.com:
That's not the actions of people who have confidence in themselves. Those are the actions of a fearful, small-minded, vulgar group of Neanderthals who have suddenly seen Homo sapiens and realized that their days are numbered. These mouthbreathers cannot offer any new ideas, so instead of trying to compete with conservatives, they're busy with the electronic equivalent of sticking their fingers into their ears and shouting, "LA-LA-LA-LA, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU!!" as loudly as possible.More HERE. And he has a point.
Presented for your delectation by the Gentleman Farmer at 6:27 PM
Comments on "Free Speech & The Internet"
-
Selfish Country Music Loving Lady said ... (9:30 AM) :
-
Gentleman Farmer said ... (10:08 AM) :
post a commentI always assumed that everyone who used amazon.com learned pretty early on to tune out the reader reviews for books. They are just laughably useless -- either of the "BEST BOOK EVER!!!" category or the "(incoherent rant)" category. Since everyone already knows to ignore them, it's pretty hard to get TOO concerned about the problem.
(Incidentally, the user reviews can be great for music, when one is trying to determine which recording of a certain piece to buy.)
I agree completely. It's not really necessary affirmatively to ignore the reviews that say either "GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD," or "SATAN WILL EAT YOUR CHILDREN IF YOU READ THIS BOOK," since they don't tell you anything. It's an opinion from someone I don't know and, since I ignore most of the opinions of people I do know, they're pretty useless.
But the reviews that indicate that the writer actually read the book, actually appears to know something about the subject matter or genre, and has rational remarks to make, are useful. If I'm trying to learn to play the harmonica, these will help me figure out whether this or that book is too basic, or not basic enough.
But the problem has become greater than that. Last week the Washington Post had to shut off public comments on its ombudsman blog, because 100s of ass clowns posted content-free screams. That's what's happened at Amazon for certain books. The problem is that this chaff makes it impossible to find the real comments or reviews.
It is as if a tagger spray-painted over the exit signs on the New Jersey Turnpike.