Amazon appears to be doing another stupid. As if bigotry
dressed up as faulty software/caving into consumer pressure* was not enough,
they have continued along the path of pissing off the people they should be
making efforts to keep onside. Yes. Writers. Those people who produce the
things you sell.
Writing is not well paid. There are a few exceptions, but
the majority of us can only dream of getting close to a living wage. It doesn’t
make us any happier then to see a highly successful company that has already
eroded our income with bully-boy tactics to cut their costs now doing all it
can to avoid paying tax. Tax that, in part, helps to seed fund the arts, a
sector on which writers rely and which, incidentally, is one of the largest
sectors of the UK
That is bad enough; now they are trying to censor writers.
Reports are circulating that Amazon intend (and have already started) to remove
any book review on their sites that is written by an author. Presumably this
means anyone who has an Author’s Page. It would seem this is a belated and
ill-conceived response to the sock-puppetry that went on. There is a simple
solution to this problem. Do not allow reviews to be posted anonymously or
pseudonymously. They must have your real name on, the one on your account.
Censoring people who are likely to offer considered and
knowledgeable opinions on a book is plain stupid. Why should I (a) be deprived
of reading reviews of people whose opinions I trust and value; and (b) not be
allowed to comment on books which I have enjoyed (or not, as the case may be)
or which lie within my field of expertise and experience? And there’s more.
There is also talk that Amazon wants to ban reviews posted on Amazon from being
posted elsewhere. Quite how they intend to police that, I do not know – perhaps
they’ll set up a spy unit funded by all that tax they didn’t pay.
Censorship isn’t the answer. It never has been. Attempts to
impose it have always backfired. Transparency is the answer. It is simple and
may lead to some people being a little less spiteful, which is no bad thing.
And remember, Amazon, taking on or pissing off people who
are good with words is a particularly stupid thing to do, especially if your
core business depends on their co-operation.
(*delete as appropriate to the particular excuse they trot
out)
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