The following has been produced solely by Brian Powell, and in no way reflects the opinion of SUNY Buffalo Physics Department or anyone else. This took place around the time of 4/05.

Amazon Cans 1-star Reviews

A couple of months ago, I came across the book "The Final Theory: Rethinking Our Scientific Legacy" by Mark McCutcheon. This is your standard "I bet you didn't know that E=mc^2 was wrong" book, written by some electrical engineer who might have physics 101 under his belt. I didn't read the book, but spent a fair amount of time perusing "The Flaws of Science" link on McCutcheon's website, as well as the first chapter of his book, which so happens to be available for download. In a word, complete garbage. This is not surprising, and I'm sure many of you have seen this type of crap time and time again. Out of curiosity, I checked to see if Amazon.com was selling the text, and in fact, they were. Perhaps a bit unsettling, I was willing to let this all rest, when I noticed that this book had a flawless 5-star average review. Today, as I write this, there are 31 reviews: 1 3-star and 3 4-star, and all the rest a whopping 5 stars. These 5-star reviewers really like this book, too! I decided to write my own review. Granted, I hadn't read the whole book, but since the website walks you through much of what is discussed, I was pretty sure of the content, and I had read the first chapter, which really ticked me off. What I will detail below is the month-long battle that ensued with Amazon.com, as they simply refused to post my negative reviews. During this whole fiasco, I noticed many other reviewers who had 1-star reviews posted, for perhaps a matter of hours, only to be removed. What really angers me is that the review service should be completely unskewed, since this is what Amazon claims. And when I brought it to their attention, they more or less told me to go screw myself. Here's how it happened...

First Review: This was a tad harsh. Amazon didn't post it. It was also submitted to Barnesandnoble.com, and they posted it. Good for them!
I asked Amazon what the deal was, and they replied.
Fair enough- so I cleaned it up, and re-submitted it. I waited 3 days, not the requisit 5-7 business days, as they seemed to be posting reviews pretty quickly. When my review didn't show up, I emailed them again.
They reply. I'm accused of attacking the author and his credentials, and for refuting the claims of a non-fiction book! I'm told to state things as "my opinion". I'm starting to lose patience at this point, but am driven by some unknown, masochistic force to continue dealing with these people. I clean it up, following their suggestions...and it gets posted!! For about 2 hours, then it gets yanked. This is odd, and seems to happen quite often at Amazon.
My patience has been drained to zero, and my sanity is quickly following. I email them again to see if I can't get a successful 1-star review up on their site. Their response makes blood shoot out of my nose. This complete contradiction convinced me that this was hopeless. Note especially the last line, "We ask that you not use it as a place for discourse on the subject matter."
I submitted a final complaint telling them that I had given up, and that they had lost my business. They reply. Note the line "Now, although this is an improvement, your review still does not address the subject matter in the book, nor does it offer a reader any reason why they should or should not read this book, other than your personal opinions that you disagree with the content." Yet another contradiction. A quick look through the positive feedback comments yield many that don't fit this guideline. For example, the review

Having read this, I feel like a person who is aware that the earth is round walking among those who still believe it to be flat.

is not only nauseatingly retarded, it neither addresses the subject matter nor gives me a reason to buy the book. The only difference is that this person gave McCutcheon 5 stars, and I gave him 1.

This completes my harrowing journey through the idiocy that is Amazon.com. I encourage anyone who is interested to check out this book, and if you feel so compelled, to write a review. I'm convinced something fishy is going on, and it's going to take more than just a few customers to uncover it.