[pidgeon92]

I must admit to being fascinated by the Kindle "reviews" on Amazon. I think this would be an excellent topic for a psychology student's thesis. What is the motivation of the people who write reviews who do not own the item? I buy a lot on Amazon, almost all of the reviews for all other items are for people who own/use that item.

Why does the Kindle attract people who don't own one, or care to own one? Are they just trolls? I haven't looked at the numbers closely, but it appears that a majority of the 3-5 star reviewers are indeed users/owners, and a majority of the 1-2 start reviewers are not. Additionally, the majority of the 1-2 stars reviewers tend to have only *1* review - that being the Kindle. Also, most of these "reviewers" use their "real name." These reviews tend to be passionate, like they just don't like the thing, more like they hate it and the existence of it.

I often comment on these reviews (out of boredom), but really, do the original posters come back? I'm starting to doubt that they are real people. Maybe a small number of real people who have nothing better to do than sign up for Amazon accounts just to Kindle bash.

Thoughts?

 

[Cuechick]

It's probably execs from Sony!

Now I have to go check that out...

 

[Teninx]

Somewhere along the line, it seems that the Kindle has attracted the attention of a group going by the handle of 'Defective by Design' which hates the very idea of DRM. These are the people who are responsible for "cloud bombing' Kindle with perjoratives like "kindle swindle", "defective by design" and the other slurs that show up in blue type on Amazon's Kindle pages. Apparently they're better organized than most political campaigns and more highly motivated, because thier numbers are responsible for a great many of anti-Kindle sentiments on Amazon.

 

[quickfics]

I also hate DRM, but in the case of the Kindle, it is done in such an unobtrusive way that I really don't give it any thought, and it really didn't factor much in my decision to purchase. We all know that DRM is really next to useless when it comes to protecting intellectual rights, but it's something we have to live with for the moment. Basing negative reviews strictly on the fact that the Kindle utilizes DRM, and ignoring all the positives, is completely disingenuous, especially when most of the "reviewers" never even spent five-minutes with the unit. The thing has a 30-day money-back guarantee, so they have no excuse.

 

[Leslie]

Pidgeon,

I think the notion of people hating the Kindle and hating its existence (even if they have never seen or touched one!) is very true and very interesting. I like to scan news stories and blogs for articles about the Kindle. If comments are allowed, you can always count on one or two people asserting that the Kindle will be the downfall of western civilization. It's amazing that they give so much power to such a little device!

Of course, people said the same thing about computers and ATMs. Remember the ATM stories? That every bank teller on the planet would be out of a job and unemployment would soar. Has that happened? LOL

L

 

[Jeff]

It may have nothing whatsoever to do with the Kindle. Some people just use internet reviews as a place to vent.

When CNET (COM.COM) first began giving visitors the opportunity to review software I was appalled by all the bad reviews that my software got until I realized that none (not even one) of the bad reviews came from actual users of my software.

Now I don’t read the reviews.