Mormons clash with the ungodly in war by Amazon customer review

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From yesterday’s Guardian:
A battle of biblical proportions is brewing on the Amazon page for The Book of Mormon, with hundreds of believers and non-believers weighing in to praise or rubbish the Latter Day Saints’ sacred text.
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Almost 300 reviews have been written in less than a week for a 1981 edition of The Book of Mormon on Amazon.com. The ratings are split almost evenly between one-star (the lowest possible score) and five-star write-ups for a text that Mormons believe was revealed to Joseph Smith in 1827, engraved on gold plates in ancient Egyptian, and translated by Smith with God’s assistance.
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“WARNING: May cause drowsiness and occasional eye-rolling. Go watch the musical instead,” said one reviewer. A five-star fan, however, said that “it was translated by the Gift and Power of God, and is the record of a people who are a branch of the tribe of Israel who had Prophets in their day who preached about Christ. Read it and pray about its contents.”
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The Book of Mormon records how an ancient prophet, Lehi, who lived in Jerusalem around 600BC, led a group of people to America, where “they became a great civilisation”. “God continued to call prophets among these people,” says the Church of Latter Day Saints. “These prophets knew about Heavenly Father’s plan for His children and the mission of Jesus Christ. They recorded that Christ appeared, after His Resurrection, to the people in America, taught them His gospel, and formed His Church among them.”
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The face-off on Amazon over the book follows an article from Salt Lake City’s KUTV, which claimed that students at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints University Brigham Young had been asked to praise the book online. The news source quoted a Facebook post, which told students that “many people against the Church have, sadly, written negative comments about the Book”, urging them to write a review in response, because it would be “a great opportunity to share your testimony to the world and do online missionary work”.
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theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/03/mormons-clash-war-by-amazon-customer-review-book-of-mormon
 
debbie_h said:
Interesting… 🍿
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Love the Guardian picture. I just saw the Book of Mormon musical on Monday. It was definitely done by the guys from South Park. What was surprising was how many people who obviously knew nothing about it and were so offended they walked out at intermission. Also funny was how many times the LDS Church was advertising themselves in the Playbill.

This Amazon review war seems a similar kind of battle organized to counter those mocking their church. And in doing so they seem to have simply engendered the opposite of what they wanted. The more they try to make themselves look good, the more people want to counter it.
 
One never know what you’ll find in reviews at Amazon. Just look at the Haribo sugar free gummy bear reviews, or the ones for the Quirky Egg Minder Wink App Enabled Smart Egg Tray.
 
It is possible to disagree about religion and still be respectful. The one-star reviews I read are not respectful. The authors should truly be ashamed of themselves.
 
Well it’s a testament to the worthlessness of online product reviews.
 
Padres1969 said:
Love the Guardian picture. I just saw the Book of Mormon musical on Monday. It was definitely done by the guys from South Park. What was surprising was how many people who obviously knew nothing about it and were so offended they walked out at intermission. Also funny was how many times the LDS Church was advertising themselves in the Playbill.

This Amazon review war seems a similar kind of battle organized to counter those mocking their church. And in doing so they seem to have simply engendered the opposite of what they wanted. The more they try to make themselves look good, the more people want to counter it.
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I am surprised at the popularity of this play. It has tons of four letter words including the “F” word.
 
Reviews on texts that exist in many different versions should reflect the merits/problems with that particular version. For example, a review of a version of the Bible should discuss the translation, binding, commentary, appendices, etc.
 
RebeccaJ said:
Well it’s a testament to the worthlessness of online product reviews.
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I don’t know I’ve found on-line product reviews helpful but you have to sort through a few to get the whole story. But then I’m rarely in a hurry to buy anything.
 
RebeccaJ said:
They are empirically negligible. 😃 🤓
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Like I said I have found them useful, particularly in cell phones and the service needed. My kids have also found them useful in phone and computer products. We don’t just go to the Ford dealer to fine out about cars we want to hear from unhappy Ford customers.😃
 
zaffiroborant said:
Like I said I have found them useful, particularly in cell phones and the service needed. My kids have also found them useful in phone and computer products. We don’t just go to the Ford dealer to fine out about cars we want to hear from unhappy Ford customers.😃
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There’s been ongoing reports about fake Amazon reviews. Estimates are as high as 6/10 Amazon reviews, are fake. Besides volunteer swarm reviewers, there is a lucrative business in charging $5 for writing reviews, both positive and negative. That’s what I meant. You’re customer reviews of the Ford are largely made up from reviewers that have been paid, making the reviews negligible.
 
andrewstx said:
I am surprised at the popularity of this play. It has tons of four letter words including the “F” word.
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Why in this day and age when religiosity is on the decline would the popularity of a musical that skewers a particularly questionable (historically), conservative and secretive church, surprise you?

And with regard to the reviews, yes the negative ones are irreverent, but it seem the majority of the negatives didn’t show up until the LDS church through BYU made a concerted effort to underhandedly pump up the Book of Mormon’s reviews. I’m sure there’s a reddit group or some such that has organized an equally, if not more, effective counter effort. The LDS church would have better spent their time letting a few bad reviews pass and not worrying about it. Instead they made a basic error of the internet… they engaged the trolls.
 
RebeccaJ said:
There’s been ongoing reports about fake Amazon reviews. Estimates are as high as 6/10 Amazon reviews, are fake. Besides volunteer swarm reviewers, there is a lucrative business in charging $5 for writing reviews, both positive and negative. That’s what I meant. You’re customer reviews of the Ford are largely made up from reviewers that have been paid, making the reviews negligible.
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Are you talking about all online reviews or just Amazon’s?
 
Padres1969 said:
And with regard to the reviews, yes the negative ones are irreverent, but it seem the majority of the negatives didn’t show up until the LDS church through BYU made a concerted effort to underhandedly pump up the Book of Mormon’s reviews. I’m sure there’s a reddit group or some such that has organized an equally, if not more, effective counter effort. The LDS church would have better spent their time letting a few bad reviews pass and not worrying about it. Instead they made a basic error of the internet… they engaged the trolls.
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Basically. Not long after the challenge went out to positively review the Book of Mormon on Amazon, news of this effort made its rounds through ex-Mormon/post-Mormon channels. Many former Mormons, happily added their negative reviews. No organization was required.
 
The most memorable review of the Book of Mormon remains the one by Mark Twain in 1872, "chloroform in print”.
 
RebeccaJ said:
There’s been ongoing reports about fake Amazon reviews. Estimates are as high as 6/10 Amazon reviews, are fake. Besides volunteer swarm reviewers, there is a lucrative business in charging $5 for writing reviews, both positive and negative. That’s what I meant. You’re customer reviews of the Ford are largely made up from reviewers that have been paid, making the reviews negligible.
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WOW!. I didn’t know that.
I don’t usually look at the for purchase purposes, but I do for curiousity sake
 
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