THE Group for Authors! discussion

A couple of weeks ago I made an enquiry over some star ratings that had been given to one of my books but that remained unattributed to readers - 2 x 2*. I just wanted to see who they were from.

The matter was quickly resolved when the ratings suddenly disappeared. One of the possible explanations suggested was that they were the product of spam or sock-puppet accounts. (See post thread: 'Star Ratings').

It's happened again. I've waited a week to see if the ratings are going to be attributed to readers and they have not been. This time it's 2 x 2* and 2 x 1* ratings on my book 'Bad Sons'.

I don't have a problem with readers hating my books. But I do have a problem with what seems to be spam or sock-puppet accounts being able to drag down my book's average rating. I feel this way because I am the author of this book and I care about it.

I'll be grateful if someone could look into it and let me know what's going on with this.

Thanks.

There's also an ongoing bug randomly rating books on our shelves or putting books on our shelves (often 2-stars for some reason).

I never thought to check with the book's author when that happens to see if they see a 2-star rating attributed to me, if they see it all, or if they see it but cannot tell who rated. The bug happened to me enough it contributed to my just yanking off all my book shelvings on goodreads (except unrated currently readings).

Maybe the next time someone gets a rating they didn't make appear on their "my books" as if from them, they should post and ask the author of that book. It could be another piece of the puzzle to help resolve that bug—which may or may not help your issue (2-stars reminds me of that bug).

Thanks. DA. You've helped me to understand the issue a little better. I hope Goodreads are worried enough to be doing something about it.

Oliver wrote: "Thanks. DA. You've helped me to understand the issue a little better. I hope Goodreads are worried enough to be doing something about it."

It may have nothing to do with your issue; I just mentioned because of the 2-star connection :)

Oliver wrote: "A couple of weeks ago I made an enquiry over some star ratings that had been given to one of my books but that remained unattributed to readers - 2 x 2*. I just wanted to see who they were from.

..."

I'm not sure what you are seeing. Is it that there is a rating under the filter where you can see how many of each type of rating but no actual person who gave it?

Sock puppet ratings or accidental ratings should still show up as associated with an account. Sometimes there is a delay with cached data and it can take a while (hours? A day?) for everything to catch up.

There have also been other numerical things that are off here from time to time, like numbers of followers. Maybe it's a similar type of bug?

@Oliver, can you still edit your book and click to "refresh ratings" (used to be in righthand column when editing an edition right next to where you choose which edition is primary/default/featured)? Authors used to be able to; goodreads/Amazon has made changes purportedly keeping ratings auto-refreshed since I knew about that tip so may have removed that option.

If you can refresh and if a caching issue that might resolve it.

Not improbable someone accidentally clicked stars on a tiny cell phone screen then made corrections and cache had trouble catching up but I believe the stars would still be associated with an account.

Since posting my query, the four comments have now mysteriously disappeared. Problem solved. (for now).

Sorry, not comments, star ratings.

Sounds like bug/glitch then.

At any rate, glad it worked out for you.

If it helps when you get real ★★☆☆☆ ratings attached to real accounts, please keep in mind that according to the suggested ratings scales on both websites a ★★☆☆☆ on goodreads = a ★★★☆☆ on Amazon.com.

In other words, an actual reader rating your book ★★☆☆☆ here (if using suggested scale) is just saying your book was "okay" and it's a neutral, not a negative, rating.