Obviously not all of the reviews on Amazon are “real” reviews by impartial customers who happened to pick up the book. Amazon’s now taking a small step toward fixing the problem, as Amazon Prods Reviewers To Stop Hiding Behind Fake Names explains:
After years of letting Internet users anonymously savage or salute everything from books to toasters in online reviews, Amazon.com Inc. is encouraging its customers to put their names where their opinions are.Earlier this month, the Web retailer quietly launched a new system, dubbed Real Names, that encourages users to append to their product reviews the name that appears on the credit card they have registered with Amazon. A logo saying “Real Name” appears beside such customer comments.
Amazon still allows reviewers to sign their comments with pen names, effectively concealing their identity from other Amazon users. But even these reviewers need to supply a credit card or purchase history. Previously, users could easily open multiple Amazon accounts from which they could post multiple reviews of the same product. The new system is intended to block that practice.
I guess I never thought about it, but I didn’t realize that you could open an Amazon account (or two, or a dozen) without providing a credit card, and that you could then post reviews. That looks like the loop hole.