08-12-03 @ 2:16 am EDT

I do not mean to be too snarky with this entry but I just find this rather amusing...

In a new sitewide e-mail today:

:: Introducing Product Reviews ::
Product Reviews REPLACE the existing Book Review item type. As its name suggests, this new format allows Writing.Com members to review a variety of products including Books, Music, DVDs and Videos! The system is fully expandable and, in time, we will add the ability to review anything sold on Amazon.Com, from toys and games to clothing and MORE!

Now, what do I find so amusing about this? What I find amusing is the fact that...product reviews, for such things as movies, DVDs, etc.--were actually suggested long ago, before most of the site restrictions started coming into effect. And the response given to the suggestion was...Writing.com is a writing site, hence such things as movie, DVD, video, and product reviews etc. had NO PLACE on this site. Book reviews were allowed as they focused on an element of writing, but movies and DVDs and videogames and toys didn't focus on writing and so no, product reviews of said items would not be instituted as this is a writing site, not a movie/gaming/music/etc. site.

A few months later, there's a 180, and here we are with the brand NEW product reviews. Hmmmmmmm.

Considering that all links lead to Amazon (as the book reviews did before--not that I have any complaint about this as I use Amazon myself), I think the reason behind the new product review item is obvious. And I don't slight it because hey, if they want to institute it, go right ahead; I don't mind. I do kind of mind that my two book reviews aren't rateable anymore (though maybe that's for the best, considering!) and look somewhat more cluttered and unfriendlier than they used to, and aren't as easy to reach or view in my port (you can only see the new format if you click on the tiny, easy-to-miss "product reviews" link under my tiny, easy-to-miss table of contents link), but that's life. Not many people look at book reviews anyway, especially ones about mythology. I just find it kind of funny how not that long ago there was this adamant policy against such un-writing-related items on a writing site, but now here they are, being touted as the new big thing as if that were the idea all along. Hm, whatever. Their choice.

One thing I DID find bothersome in the e-mail was the hint that multiple product reviews--which I took to mean multiple reviews of the same product, given by different users--will not be included or allowed or whatever; it said that multiple reviews were not converted into the new item format. What that would mean, if I did read it correctly (and if I didn't, then it needs to be phrased a little clearer, no offense), is that you would only ever find ONE review of an existing product on this site at any time. What good would that be? The very point of reviews is that you are allowed a selection of them--at least, on the more popular items. It's obvious my reviews of The Manitous and Daily Life Of The Egyptian Gods are the only such reviews of those particular products on this site, but what about more popular things like the Harry Potter books etc.? I recently was going to bid on a book at eBay and of course the review provided by the seller was a positive one. Then I went to Amazon and read the other reviews THERE. All unfavorable...so I refrained from buying the book. All because I had read more than ONE review.

I hope the e-mail was just phrased vaguely and multiple reviews of the same product are in fact allowed, otherwise it's going to be a rather useless system. One review on its own is okay, but it takes more than one to make much sense when it comes to making an informed decision on whether one wants to buy or not. (Unless they WANT us to buy every single thing reviewed here, without considering the cons along with the pros--and they really wouldn't want us to do that, would they?)

In other news, I think I must have writer's block; I haven't done a scrap of writing lately (okay, an it-doesn't-count scrap to Part 11 of the Chronicles yesterday morning, but that was it), and it's beginning to bother me. I hope it's just my mind's way of telling me I need a break to think things over before starting again. Athletes take breaks so their bodies can recuperate; why can't writers take breaks so their imaginations can do the same? I hope. Can't be sure. I haven't been online nearly as much as I used to be; it's pretty much down to between 1-3 AM, and then again around 10-11 or noon. I didn't even go online around 6-8 AM yesterday like I usually do, and I might not again today either. It's good to not be online as much; I just wish I spent more of that offline time WRITING something!

To the people who have read and reviewed Skew and my other items and have stopped by Skew for whatever bizarre reason, I DO still mean to get to you...thank you for reading my journal, I really do mean it. AAK I thought I just had a bug in my ear. And I have to go to the bathroom. O_o; Sorry this ending makes no sense whatsoever. Tar...