A glitch this week in Amazon.com’s site software revealed the real names of thousands of people who had posted anonymous reviews of books… And it revealed a whole new world of cutthroat, petty, and often juvenile behavior among published authors and the literary community as a whole.
Amazon glitch unmasks war of reviewers | CNET News.com
Author Katha Pollitt mentioned that she had considered anonymously posting a nasty review on her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend’s Amazon page, but refrained from doing so. In an interview, however, she said she had chastised a friend whose book had no reviews on Amazon when it came out, telling her to have friends post some. The friend followed her advice, but Pollitt was disappointed. ‘I’m thinking what kind of friends are these? They’ve only written one sentence.’