Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Freakzilla wrote:I suggest we all rate their reviews (thumbs up/thumbs down). If a review gets enough thumbs down it will be removed.

Would really need some special rewards.

DuneFishUK wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:I suggest we all rate their reviews (thumbs up/thumbs down). If a review gets enough thumbs down it will be removed.

Would really need some special rewards.

I should start my own special forces... The Flying Monkeys.

Freakzilla wrote:

DuneFishUK wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:I suggest we all rate their reviews (thumbs up/thumbs down). If a review gets enough thumbs down it will be removed.

Would really need some special rewards.

I should start my own special forces... The Flying Monkeys.

I would join that

SwordMaster wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:

DuneFishUK wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:I suggest we all rate their reviews (thumbs up/thumbs down). If a review gets enough thumbs down it will be removed.

Would really need some special rewards.

I should start my own special forces... The Flying Monkeys.

I would join that

Only if it has a really cool t-shirt

SwordMaster wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:

DuneFishUK wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:I suggest we all rate their reviews (thumbs up/thumbs down). If a review gets enough thumbs down it will be removed.

Would really need some special rewards.

I should start my own special forces... The Flying Monkeys.

I would join that

...only if we are allowed to shoot lasers from our eyes...

Ampoliros wrote:

SwordMaster wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:

DuneFishUK wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:I suggest we all rate their reviews (thumbs up/thumbs down). If a review gets enough thumbs down it will be removed.

Would really need some special rewards.

I should start my own special forces... The Flying Monkeys.

I would join that

Only if it has a really cool t-shirt

Not such a bad idea...

Baraka Bryan wrote:can we be the Flying Spaghetti Monkeys?

BAM!

SandChigger wrote:I guess that's OK.

In the sense that I suppose their activities will include all his books. I don't really care about the Batman meats Superman slash shit, or his SW or X Files or Nemo-fucks-a-mermaid etc etc whatever books, I'm just watching the Dune stuff. He can have his "original" (snicker) series and what-have-you. I just want the fucker away from Dune.

Hi SandChigger, OK fine!

I have been away from star wars for a long time now, but I know that KJA has alienated many fandoms now I want him away from Dune too, but I thought it a good idea to warn others about this attempt by KJA to raise his prestige (they will begin to note the 5 star reviews rampages too)

OK fine?

Hey, I'm not saying "Don't do it" or anything, just that *I* won't be watching his other stuff because I'm not into the Star Wars or X Files novels, and certainly not into any DC Comic novelizations! But if someone else IS interested in those franchises as well as Dune, and wants to keep an eye open for shilling by the KJA Spayshul Fartsers, the more power to them/you.

Freakzilla wrote:I suggest we all rate their reviews (thumbs up/thumbs down). If a review gets enough thumbs down it will be removed.

I think we have to be careful about this.

As Chig said somewhere, there's nothing wrong with a fan who legitimately likes the books posting a positive review, even if they are a Special Forces Member. The problem arises when someone posts a positive review (or a *more* positive review) *that they wouldn't have posted otherwise*, in order to get the KJA merch.

Detecting when this happens can be tricky. Sure, if the reviewer hasn't posted any KJA reviews and they suddenly pepper Amazon with 5-star one-liners in every KJA product listed, then it's pretty clear they're a rent-a-shill. But a single positive review for a new KJA book from someone who happens to be in Special Forces probably shouldn't be flagged as thumbs down.

It would be very easy to interpret any organized activity by us to remove positive reviews as some kind of harassment - or at least, just as underhanded as paying shills for writing reviews.

Just my 2c,

HBJ

DuneFishUK wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:I suggest we all rate their reviews (thumbs up/thumbs down). If a review gets enough thumbs down it will be removed.

Would really need some special rewards.

all I gots's virtual cookie .....

Hunchback Jack wrote:As Chig said somewhere, there's nothing wrong with a fan who legitimately likes the books posting a positive review, even if they are a Special Forces Member.

Agreed. That just makes that person a halfwit, not a shill. And there's no law against being a halfwit ...

But I've got no qualms at all about nuking the patently fake ones. We all know what they look like: three sentences that more-or-less come from the back-cover blurb. I say we go nuts with those.

The McDune book pages are pretty dead on Amazon right now (maybe Kevin has reined them in a bit?), so I had a look at Enemies and Allies.

David James "dizzyjam" is probably a KJASF member (there's a David James in the members list).

Everyone on that site can't be such a complete fanboy that they'll go along with everything Kevin wants them to do. I wonder if he'll lose supporters even there if he gets more desperate and starts asking them to do ever more distasteful things....

Maybe KJA is just taking advantage of the new Amazon Vine program, it's basically the same thing, Amazon is giving out gifts to mass reviewers. The reviews system is no longer reliable.

Agreed that rewarding people for review quantity does not lead to reliable or useful reviews.

There's a crucial difference here, though - KJA is rewarding his lackeys for *postive reviews* of *his products* - not just reviews (good or bad) of any products they choose. Amazon's incentives won't necessarily result in a skewed rating of any particular product. KJA's definitely *will* - in KJAs favour, to his substantial financial gain.

HBJ

cmsahe wrote:the new Amazon Vine program, it's basically the same thing, Amazon is giving out gifts to mass reviewers. The reviews system is no longer reliable.

HBJ has already addressed this, but NO, it isn't the same thing. An advance copy of a book isn't exactly "a gift" if you are obligated to review it. And what if they send you a shitty book to do? Some gift, huh?

Where there is the potential for a problem is in the selection of the people chosen for the Vine Program. It seems to be based on how the reviewer has been ranked by other customers. There could be some shills in that group.

Another problem, obviously, would be if one of KJA's SF shills is a Vine reviewer.

(One thing I still wonder about is the people who could post early reviews of Enemas & Analities but who DIDN'T have the Vine Program label by their names.)

Written before kjasf.com came online, but defintely a Special Forces candidate .

http://www.amazon.com/Children-Dune-Chr ... J3WBQNSLHJ

HBJ

That reviewer must be 7 y/o, I recommended him the Young jedi series, He'll enjoiy it!

Hunchback Jack wrote:Written before kjasf.com came online, but defintely a Special Forces candidate .

http://www.amazon.com/Children-Dune-Chr ... J3WBQNSLHJ

HBJ

I wonder what tech industry the guy under that retired from, or was he forced out...

Maybe he can't say?

(Usually they do.)

Conway's back at the KJA Special Forces thread at Amazon:

[ KJA members should have to post disclaimers in their reviews ] no more so that anyone associated with Jacurutu or Hairy Ticks of Dune should, since it is obvious that this group does not like the books being produced by the Herbert / Anderson team, and are engaged in derogatory commentary about them before they are even released.

Once again, he seems to have missed the point.

HBJ

I'm beginning to suspect that he's a bit slow. Would explain his tastes in books.

But I guess we should thank him for the FREE ADVERTISING!

(It's like TAZ on DN in the old days. He kept going on and on about how alt.fan.dune was some sort of den of iniquity and no one should visit it or read the posts there against his GODS KJA & Brian. The one sure way to ensure people look at/read something is.... )

I'm beginning to think that we're seeing the result of them having hashed out some arguments while it's been quiet. Have to contact the mole at KJASF to find out for sure.

I suspect you might be right. After a full page of discussion, we finally get a questioning of the whole premise on which the thread is based.

It appears the directive from the mothership was: deny everything.



HBJ