Generic Review is Generic

[jeriendhal]

Well, I finally got a review on Amazon for For Your Safety but it's rather... odd. Am I thinking this just too generic for some reason?

This well written short story is packed with interesting ideas. This story is quite short, so the plot is fairly simple. Some aspects of the story do not entirely make sense, but they do not significantly detract from it. The subject matter is not entirely pleasant, but it contains a lot of different things to debate or think about. Some of the ideas presented in the story are objectionable, but the story does not actually tell the reader what to think, it just provides a lot to think about.

I don't think it's a troll. The guy has posted reviews for other products and they're in the same style, but not repetitive in any way like he was posting the same thing for every story he reviewed. It's just weird.

Comments

[aldersprig.livejournal.com]

It allllmost feels like there's a checklist behind it.

Does the story make sense?
Does the lack of sense detract from the story?
Is the subject matter pleasant?

[aldersprig.livejournal.com]

...I believe the author bio is the first time I've seen a gendered pronoun attached to you. Um. /blush/

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Trust me, I've been accidentally referred to as "Joyce" often enough that I'm used to some gender confusion. ;p I assume that means you hadn't watched my Kickstarer video before contributing? Either that or I'm more Bishie in appearance than I realized....

[aldersprig.livejournal.com]

Nope!

Though I should, 'cause I've got one of those of my own to do soon...

Glad you're not offended. (Tho' I knew you were Royce and just... wasn't totally sure about the gender, I guess)

(Also, back to the main topic of your post, I wonder if the commenter has English as a second/third language?)

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

That review strikes me as the kind of review a student would write after not actually reading the work in question. It says nothing specific to the story.

[siderea]

Yeah, this. There's nothing in there that alludes to any identifying information from the work in question.

Amazon has some sort of cookies reviewers can win, right? Like you get to be a Top Whatever reviewer if you review enough things?

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Better still, they send you Free Things in the hopes that you'll give a positive review. Naturally the reviews are expected to be completely unbiased. coughcough

[siderea]

D: I've been missing out! I thought it was just bragging rights, I didn't know it was goods. What does it take to get onto this gravy train? I haven't contributed a lot of reviews, but most of the ones I have are highly rated.

[sraun]

I can almost see that - Amazon has this weird feedback requirement where they won't display your rating unless you actually make a comment!

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

[whistles Twilight Zone theme]

I've seen some pretty weird reviews, but that one reminds me of really bad grocery store bakery frosting.

[natf.livejournal.com]

Could they be trying not to be spoileriffic? I would not know where to start writing a review due to not wanting to spoiler.