Faith ,'End of Days'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
I personally don't understand why anyone genuinely reviewing a book, with no agenda other than to voice an opinion, would want to remain anonymous.
Simple. On a very public forum like Amazon, I don't want thousands of strangers knowing my name and address.
See, that would be my first thought, not who I pissed off.
I don't want thousands of strangers knowing my name and address.
Ayup. I don't use my full name on the public internet, period. So any review by me is going to look like a pseud anyway.
Betsy, is there any reason you can't use an pseud? The objection from me is to "a reader from...."
I don't want thousands of strangers knowing my address either. But if I'm going to go to the trouble of writing and posting a review, it's presumably because I have a strong opinion about the work in question. And "a reader from a city in which there are eight million other readers and you'll never know who I am, neener" really does strike me as p/a. Why post the opinion in the first place? I don't understand the split in the mindset between "I have strong opinions and want the world to know about them" and "I don't want anyone to know who I am."
But that's just my own mindset. I really don't get it.
Anonymous reviews also don't get their email addresses harvested by spambots.
is there any reason you can't use an pseud? The objection from me is to "a reader from...."
As far as I know, your only options are the full name Amazon knows you by or "a reader from...". I could be wrong.
I'm piling up a shocking number of pseuds. "peaches" the fangirl, "chicating" for fanfic, and "Angela Frandina"(which I guess I could use on Amazon...and get even more e-mail saying "You don't really DO that, do you?" No. Hence the irony. Get it?
Betsy, I have at least two obvious pseuds who have posted reviews of Weaver at Amazon; one good, one so-so. I have no problem with a pseud; I might even search and see what else they've reviewed.
I don't want thousands of strangers knowing my address either. But if I'm going to go to the trouble of writing and posting a review, it's presumably because I have a strong opinion about the work in question. And "a reader from a city in which there are eight million other readers and you'll never know who I am, neener" really does strike me as p/a. Why post the opinion in the first place? I don't understand the split in the mindset between "I have strong opinions and want the world to know about them" and "I don't want anyone to know who I am."
What's the difference between "A Reader From Seattle, Washington" and "Samantha Rodriguez From Seattle, Washington"? What value does "Samantha Rodriguez" add to the review?
Katie, it's not a question of the value of a review; I take all of them, good and bad, and look them over equally.
My problem, as I'll say again, would be the same if it was a review of a movie or an art show or anything else. The internet has given people a forum in which they can be heard, and I think that's a damned good thing.
My cutoff is not being able to understand why a human being wants the world to read their 150-word opinion of something that obviously moved said human to taking the trouble, if said human doesn't want anyone to know whose opinion it is.
Not sure I can be clearer than that. I'm a bit fuzzy today.