Reviewers, Here's How I Beat the Big, Bad Bots on the 'Zon
As Amazon works to combat fake reviews and paid reviews, it gets harder and harder for ethical reviewers. Reviews are being critiqued more carefully and less is allowed. The problem comes in when Amazon refuses to communicate with us exactly what the problem is with a particular review so we can fix it and avoid the same mistake in the future. It's frustrating, to say the least. I've gotten weary enough of my reviews being held back that I started paying attention and critiquing my own reviews to discern what might possibly have resulted in them being held hostage for as many as ten days. After evaluating and pondering, here is what I think is happening. The Obvious Amazon is strict about swear words in reviews. Most are obvious, and you can get creative in finding replacements like frick, flock, duck, etc. Others should be completely okay in context, but the bots don't seem to read context. Saying something like, "Sebastian's life had been a...