Amazon Love Letters

Damn, it would have been good to have had access to this -- I have a huge list of authors whose reviewers I'd like to see revealed.

Close observers of Amazon.com noticed something peculiar this week: the company's Canadian site had suddenly revealed the identities of thousands of people who had anonymously posted book reviews on the United States site under signatures like "a reader from New York."

The weeklong glitch, which Amazon fixed after outed reviewers complained, provided a rare glimpse at how writers and readers are wielding the online reviews as a tool to promote or pan a book -- when they think no one is watching.

Too bad Tim Lambert didn't know about it either. (Couldn't somebody have put this to good use? I mean, who gives a shit about what Dave Eggers said?)

Oh, and here's the lame tie-in to today's "love" theme:

The New York Times reports that well-known discount erotic model and expert on loving families, "Doctor" Laura Schlessinger "used a call about an anonymous letter to vent her distress over some of her Amazon reviewers, who she described as 'scummy, creepy people.'" Hmmm... I can't believe Dr. Laura used to curse her mother with that mouth!