Two Versions
What I’ve got is Two Versions of a similar kind of tale1. The first, variations on a theme, I discovered that — as the author of a then-popular website — I could sway the vote with a request for support, and in doing so, I packed the vote. My website was picked as a Number 1, but largely because I put in a request, and that bounced out over the web and then, popular at the time, AOL. That was the first time I realized, or had tangible proof2, of vote/online ballot-stuffing. Seemed, to me, disingenuous, at best, and manipulative with no sound basis.
Wasn’t really the first time I did it, but the simplest example. Briefly, 20 years ago, I was on the front page of the Austin-American Statesman. After that, I started to shy away from any kind of online popularity suggestion, and the site yelp is a good example. Even on amazon, there are multiple examples of schilling for reviews.
I don’t trust one or two, but an aggregate score, derived from a popular consensus, that works better, for me. Works best if the reviews are unbiased, and I’ve bemoaned the way this works.
One “app” I’ve got, the free version regularly pops up a window, “Like this app? Review us on the app store,” With the interesting variation, “got a problem with this app? Let us know…” including a link to the developers communication page on a website, bypassing the app store review process.
Then, too, there is the pros and cons of prose, as alluded to before. Before the current election cycles, one of my suggestions was getting information from a broad cross-section of sources.
Which doesn’t directly address the question of popularity, but does look at why I stay away from playing the game of asking for votes — anymore.
Two Versions
What the linked article does question is what sells, what doesn’t sell, and whether it is ethical to beg readers to write or pad reviews. Which I don’t. But beyond doing that, it’s about what we use to find material, and should an author, like me, should I just dumb it down to sell more?
astrofish.net/books
Previously? One.
Sig File
- An author’s blog… ↩
- What readers write… ↩
