Banned, Prohibited, Blocked

from ever posting another Amazon review from my existing account, and

Every Review I Ever Posted is GONE

for good, never to be reinstated.

Authors, Build Your Social Media Platform,

we have heard for years. But if you do, you'll be punished.

Novelist Tom Tinney warned us:

"I have been warning authors (And reviewers) for YEARS

...disconnect amazon and goodreads permissions from your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. Entirely.

No posting page read progress or anything.

Go into your social media settings and cut them off.

On twitter as well. You have to do it in your settings and NOT allow

kindle, amazon or goodreads to post your progress or grab info from your feed.

If the algorithm makes a connection

between YOUR friends list (That you give them access too) and the person/product being reviewed (Because they innocently gave that same access)...you're done.
This includes logging into goodreads using twitter or Facebook profile. They made it easy and that's just opening the chicken coop door for the fox.

I went from this:

To this:

But I'm still at NetGalley

GoodReads too:

Rave Review by Keangaroo is also still here!

How did I come to this low estate?

This is Amazon's response:

Message From Customer Service
Hello,

We took this action because **your Customer Content violated our guidelines and Conditions of Use. **

We won't reinstate your posting permissions for this account.

For more information, see our Customer Review Guidelines (https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_v4_sib?ie=UTF8&...) and Conditions of Use:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_508088_bid_1594461?no...

I'm sorry we haven't been able to address your concerns to your satisfaction. However,

we won't be able to offer any additional insight or action on this matter.

Thanks for your understanding.

Best regards,
Mary F.
Amazon.com

---

So, my new profile photo might start looking like this.

source

Log Rolling

is another concern, and rightly so given the history of some authors who traded 5-star reviews with each other back in the day, but I am not one of them.

Steemian and professional reviewer @roomerkind messaged me:

"The problem is logrolling or when people trade reviews. It is very common. However amazon does have an interest in protecting the integrity of reviews from logrollers."

I am not a log roller. I am a professional reviewer. Perihelion Science Fictionion, NetGalley - I have linked books for sale to Amazon, not to Kobo or B&N or google books. Just Amazon.

"Professional reviewers need to stay off Amazon. That's the point."

I've said it for years: if Kirkus charges authors and publishers a hefty fee to review a novel, I should be writing reviews for Kirkus and getting paid for my work.

Isn't it unethical to buy book reviews??

That was one reason I never did it.

Oh, the times, they are a changin'!

Steemians, beware the PERMISSIONS you grant!

Your friends can and will be held against you!

*That reminds me of an old song: "If I told you ya have a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"

My crime was a "conflict of interest" -- promoting family and friends -- and if I merely follow you on Twitter, you are my friend, and anything good I say about you will be held against me.

Funny how those one-star bandits continue to have free rein, sabotaging the efforts of Indie Authors. There's a mob of these bandits who snag ebooks via "Free Today" deals, read a page or two, then slam the book.

But hey. At least they weren't promoting the work of a social media friend.