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.

my pseud on Amazon - connects to my wishlist. I'd go by bethb or my pseud if people had to search for more info about me...but you don't.

When I use amazon reviews first i look at the reviews and see how they are split. if the are 50/50 very high and very low -- I know the book has contraversey which means most of the reviews are based on how someone feels about an issue - rather than weather or not the book was well done.

For fiction - I read the reviews- if someone spends time giving a detailed summary of the book - i dismiss it - I think the person is just writing to here themselves talk. If they have read every book written by author -- most of the time they are way too flattering or way to harsh. I look for something that tells me something about the book that I can't get from the the blurbs. blurbs from pw or other proffessional reviews often miss the gut reaction. Since 70% of what I read is genre fiction - it is what I looking for . I can get a good feel for that from amazon reviews.

I think the person is just writing to here themselves talk

Yup. And there's my question again: if they're going to that level of trouble - hey! look at me I have an OPINION! - what on earth is the point of not wanting people to know who it is they're supposed to be listening to? I'm perfectly willing to read any opinion at all, but I find it really difficult to care if the writer is bound and determined to remain invisible.

Boy, I'm getting fuzzy and repetitive. This what happens when I switch between fiction (writing in another browser) and opinion....

Yup. And there's my question again: if they're going to that levl of trouble - hey! look at me I have an OPINION! - what on earth is the point of not wanting people to know who it is they're supposed to be lsitening to?

Well, from my point of view they don't know that anyway. If I wanted to build, I don't know, a brand name of reviewing - look, I reviewed ten books, if you agreed with my opinions about those you might agree with my opinions about the eleventh - then, yeah, it makes sense that you need to have a name attached to those reviews.

I don't read reviews that way, though; I honestly couldn't care less whether someone puts their name on them. I don't even look at the names. *shrug*

not wanting people to know who it is they're supposed to be listening to

Who is Naomi Forrest? Or capoeira_girl? Or ita myreallastname?

The only people that care are those that know me. That's some teeny fragment of the readers of the review. It's not verifiable or very usable information.

I don't read reviews that way, though; I honestly couldn't care less whether someone puts their name on them. I don't even look at the names. *shrug*

Your mileage may definitely vary. I kind of have to pay attention to the reviews and who writes them, but believe me, I'd really rather not.

And I don't get anonymous fan mail; never had an email saying "a reader from Knoxville" as the return address. Anonymity, in its own way, is traditionally paired with negatives, not positives. Think "anonymous letters".

I take it back -- the one review I have written on amazon does have my pseud - but it is divorced from the rest of my profile. - it is with my name that people could get things like my email and into my wishlist - which could lead to my address eventually.

anyway - the one book I have reviewed was on diabetes. and the reason I revieded it was because 1) it dealt only with type 2 and 2) it deals with two aspects of diet that Fiber - which is really helpful in controlling blood sugar and it understands the concept of low sugar instead of artifical sweetners. I reviewed it in order to be helpful, not to hear myself talk.

edited because although I can't spell I'm not really stupid either

The only people that care are those that know me.

Well, that makes me a freak, then. Because I do care; I do want something with which to connect in a review.

There's a standing policy among writers, that you should send thank-you notes to your critics, whether they like you or not.

I just feel a lot happier saying "Thanks for the nice review" or "Thanks for the heads-up on what you didn't like; you gave me something to think about" to someone when I'm not having to feel as if I'm dragging them out from behind a tree, screaming. You know?

Anyway. I've exhausted my take on the topic and am officially saying the same thing over and over. Taking a moment, and moving on.

Your mileage may definitely vary. I kind of have to pay attention to the reviews and who writes them, but believe me, I'd really rather not.

Oh, sure. You're naturally going to have a different POV, since the question isn't, you know, strictly academic.

Anonymity, in its own way, is traditionally paired with negatives, not positives.

On the internet, I associate anonymity with security. I've already had one credit card stolen through Amazon (and several thousand dollars charged to a PayPal account opened in my name) -- I don't value credit for my 150 word opinions that much.