Book Reviews on Nook - B&N Needs to Moderate

[avenie]

I have been finding it increasingly irritating that when I click on book reviews to get an opinion of the book there are inane comments with one star that are "should I read this book?" or just irrelevant topics.

I always report them but to be honest, when I look at a book review I don't want to have to filter it to make sure that the average star grade is accurate (since these idiots posting nothing but putting one star obviously change the average).

IMO - Barnes and Noble needs to do something to regulate this.

Does this bother anyone else?

[Doreenpv]

yes, yes, yes....I have come across comments that are rude and totally unrelated to the subject at hand.

[kamas716]

 I usually pay more attention to the reviews on GoodReads than on B&N.

[Czechboy]

A few weeks ago, there was a thread started about a similar thing, except instead of book reviews it centered on app and nook reviews.  But the same ideas apply to books.  There are any number of people that feel the review section is for asking questions and slamming different items because of unrelated issues.  It's frustrating to see it especially when it's so blatant.

[Miss_Kilman]

This problem irritates me every single day. I was one of the people involved in the discussion of ratings-spamming of apps and I have to say that the same thing is a big problem in book reviews as well. I do report, but I'm not convinced that anyone pays attention.

Frankly, ratings are spammed on the main BN site as well. Lots of starred reviews from that famous person, Anonymous, with absolutely no text. I would like to see at least a sentence or two written to justify a person's choice of star rating.

I also find it odd that when I write a review from my Nook, which admittedly doesn't happen all that often, there seems to be no way to link it to my actual BN account so that I don't appear as Anonymous. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised by this; BN have shown over and over again that they either can't or won't properly integrate the Nook products with their website.

[northlite]

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Miss_Kilman wrote:

I also find it odd that when I write a review from my Nook, which admittedly doesn't happen all that often, there seems to be no way to link it to my actual BN account so that I don't appear as Anonymous. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised by this; BN have shown over and over again that they either can't or won't properly integrate the Nook products with their website.

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Oddly enough, I can't post from my Nook Tablet on this forum. No matter how many times I tap I can't get the keyboard...this is the ONLY website I have that problem with. If I come here on my Toshiba Thrive tablet or my iPad I can post fine. Seems weird I can't post to the Nook forum from my Nook!

[TelSC]

It's not just B&N, you see the same thing on Google Play when you're looking at app ratings. I guess folks just get their jollies posting those stupid reviews that mean nothing and in most cases don't apply to whatever they're reviewing.

[flyingtoastr Scribe]

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northlite wrote:

Oddly enough, I can't post from my Nook Tablet on this forum. No matter how many times I tap I can't get the keyboard...this is the ONLY website I have that problem with. If I come here on my Toshiba Thrive tablet or my iPad I can post fine. Seems weird I can't post to the Nook forum from my Nook!

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For whatever odd reason the rich text editor doesn't work on any of the NOOK browsers. If you switch it to HTML it works though.

[Sandan53]

If you use the Puffin browser you can reply. This reply was done using the Puffin browser. 

[katrinadoe]

I couldn't agree more. I am actually considering switching to Kindle... I originally chose Nook because the design of the actual reader was better. (The B&N employees were also an absolute pleasure. They were so excited about their own Nooks.) However, now that Kindle has a touch screen e-ink device, I may have to switch. The user experience through the Nook & B&N.com is just that bad. I have been a B&N member for YEARS and I want to continue to support the company. Especially considering they're really the only brick-and-mortar stores left since Borders went under. PLEASE, B&N, we are BEGGING you to get this under control. You will lose your customer base. I repeat: You will LOSE your customer BASE! User experience is very important and you are failing. I have had my Nook for some time. Here are two things that make me the most upset: #1 - One of the talking points that piqued my interest when I purchased my Nook was the Free Friday books. However, it was soon after my purchase that this feature became impossible to access. I have researched how to find them on more than one occasion. I got so frustrated that I stopped trying. The Free Friday books should automatically be in my Library and I should be alerted they are there. #2 - Reviews of the ACTUAL books - not just the Nook version - should be included in the book reviews for those of us who would like to make informed decisions instead of having to go online to read the reviews on AMAZON before we purchase a NOOK book!!! Monitoring Reviews is of paramount importance. My apologies for slightly veering from the original topic/post. I only plan on making this plea once as my time - same as anyone's - is valuable. My hope is simply that these concerns will be seen by someone who could possibly make a difference. Soon.

[bklvr896]

The free Friday book can always be found in the unbound blog on Friday and generally in book discussion forum. I absolutely do not want it automatically in my library on Fridays. An email would be great, but not automatically putting it in my library.

As for moderating reviews, the walk a fine lime between moderating and censorship. There have been a few implants over the ears of BN removing negative reviews. Whether BN did this or not has never been commented on, but if the start removing reviews it will come up. I hate the so called reviews that give a book one star with no text as this tells me nothing, but I'm not sure I believe BN should be removing them. A better option would be to require text, but that doesn't mean that it would be meaningful text.

[5ivedom]

Here's the link to the Unbound blog - http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/The-NOOK-Blog/bg-p/Unbound

Just bookmark it and every Fridya around morning time they update it with the Free Friday Book of the Day.

Also, if you have Nook Color or Nook tablet, you can try our Free Books Buddy App. It includes Free Friday books too.

Free Books & Book Deals Buddy

It also includes the Daily Cheap Read books if they are good.

[NookaholicAC]

Yes! I report them but too ,but wonder if it does any good.

[TaurusWriter]

I didn't know there was a buddy app. I will have to try that! I always forget to look for it on Fridays...
thanks!

[katrinadoe]

I'm not necessarily 'for' the Free Friday books being automatically downloaded to my Library (although the option would be nice). My point is that if my Nook (a Simple Touch, not a Color) can tell me what sale-priced books are available at the bottom of the home page, it should be able to tell me what the Free Friday book is. The requirement that I must go to another device (my laptop or iPad) to the go to a web page that I need to keep bookmarked in order to find the damn thing (pardon me but I feel strongly about this) leads to a bad user experience. We live in an age, like it or not, where convenience and instant gratification are woven into the fabric of our days. B&N needs to recognize THAT and use it to their advantage - as any good company should! Part of the user experience of the Nook is that you don't have to WAIT for your book to be in your Library after you purchase it. You can begin reading immediately. You don't have to drive to the store or wait for the mail. The fact that B&N STILL hasn't utilized the capabilities of their own technology to do such a minor thing as put the Free Friday as an alert through the Nook device is upsetting to me as a paying customer who is also a Member. Hey, here's another idea to drive up membership (considering the devices themselves won't since the books aren't discounted even if you are a member - which I'm okay with, I understand that convenience and technology have their costs) put the Free Friday book on the home page of MEMBERS. Non-members could see that as a benefit worthy of membership! Ultimately, at the end of the day, I admit that I likely have little interest in the Free Friday books that are offered. My argument is simply B&N's gross underutilization of their own technology which makes me question other things about the company and my continued consumption of their product. I appreciate being told where I can find the Free Friday books but that is not my point. (And I have gone to that blog before and that's what it is, a blog. It's not like it's a site that only has the Free Friday books. You still have to hunt for them.)

[flyingtoastr Scribe]

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katrinadoe wrote:
The fact that B&N STILL hasn't utilized the capabilities of their own technology to do such a minor thing as put the Free Friday as an alert through the Nook device is upsetting to me as a paying customer who is also a Member. 

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Free Friday books show up in the promotions ("picked just for you" on NT/NC) section of their respective shop menus.