Full article here Do you think removing anonymity of reviewers would improve the overall quality of reviews? Even though this kind of manipulative behaviour by a reviewer is unacceptable, maybe anonymity allows for more honesty in case of genuine negative reviews? Would some education about how to cope with cyber bullying help people who are targeted not get too upset over some sad case from behind a monitor? I'm undecided but I can certainly empathise with writers who are bullied in this way.
I've only read the part you excerpted, but it reads like those participating in this behavior are using bogus accounts, which isn't really anonymity but more like fraudulent representation. How would Amazon even get around this?
This makes me think about a business I saw advertised on television that, businesses pay them to get rid of bad online reviews and make good ones. What the hell good is it for a regular person to read online reviews anymore? They are going to be fake and not honest!
I'm not sure,mother than insisting that all the accounts must be in the same name as on your credit card, ie. people are identifiable by their name. Anne Rice was extremely naive to be posting under her own name, but we can't ignore the problem just because some people are easy prey.
That would probably be a way to go. Again, I haven't looked at the actual forum of which they are speaking in which Anne was harassed, but it sounds like it's not moderated, and... humans.
