[This is a non-book post, but it is at least related to reviewing.]

I write reviews for my Blogger blog (where pretty much everything goes, albeit without spoiler tags), LibraryThing, Goodreads (I went back after we all thought Booklikes might be going away ::sigh::), Booklikes, and Steam. I've only started reviewing on Steam in the past few months, but my impression has been that the reviewing atmosphere there is actually worse than the worst I've ever seen on Goodreads.

For one thing, there's the whole binary recommendation system. I've always hated that Goodreads doesn't have half stars, but they're practically spoiling users compared to Steam. All you have is "do you recommend this game, Y/N?" It's up to the text in your review to let folks know about the shades of gray, but the product page as a whole just knows things like "this game has gotten overwhelmingly positive/negative reviews."

Also, Steam actively encourages developer comments, which can be a mixed blessing. My second review (first negative review) had the developer jumping on it to explain how my dissatisfaction with their game was wrong, even though they were pleased that my review also mentioned that I'd enjoyed another one of their games. Developer comments can be nice when they address technical issues that interfered with the game working properly, but this felt exactly like having an author jump on one of my book reviews to let me know that my criticism hurt their feelings and/or that my opinions were wrong.

Then there are the "was this review helpful?" votes. My total number of reviews is in the low double-digits, but even I've noticed downvoting that was clearly aimed at hiding certain types of reviews (postive or negative). In my case, both reviews were positive and both were for games featuring prominent LGBT content. They were downvoted by multiple people within a day or two of being posted.

I can already see the effect of some of what this article talks about. Those downvotes that I was pretty sure were from people gaming the system have disappeared. It'll be interesting to see how things work out in the long-term.

I've actually been trying to avoid a lot of summary in my reviews lately, as it rapidly turns into a book report instead of a review. And then I look back at my latest review, and it's almost all summary. Sigh.

This article, though it is definitely tongue-in-cheek, does have a point.

Ever receive an email from a retailer requesting feedback after you’ve bought something from them? Have you noticed this practice become more common in recent months?

I sure have.

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During the past four years there’s been a radical shift in how authors are perceived. Social media and self-publishing are the main reasons for this change. The ease with which one can become an author and communicate with fans and critics alike has led to both positive and negative effects on the reputations of authors.

What many point out is the fact that as soon as you make something available for sale, you’re a business. Businesses succeed and fail based on the quality of their customer service. A small but growing proportion of authors fail to understand this fact despite repeated explanations.

Seeing and hearing this same conversation countless times may mean we’ve begun to see authors as ONLY businesses while dismissing them as people.

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