Censored by Amazon

[Stephen]

A very good evening to all.

I am shocked and dismayed that Amazon has deleted, censored my cutomer review on the book "Loving Mr Spock".

My review was extremely critical and typically Asperger extremely honest. I was not at all rude.

I basically stated that I thought the book showed little understanding of what it is like to love an Asperger from and Aspergers point of view and showed how naive I thought the understanding of the writer was. I also said that I could not recommend the book and thought it was a complete waste of money.

24 hours after my review showed on Amazon, Amazon deleted it, :locked: the only 1 star review from the Cutomer reviews for this book. I also notice that amazon also deleted the second most critical review.

I think Amazon deleted both these reviews only on business grounds as it may put future customers off buying this book.

As far as I am concerned this is CENSORSHIP of the worse kind by Amazon and has broken British law and is in contravention of my European Human Rights.

All I did was to write an informative and extremely honest review on the book "Loving Mr Spock". I did not break any of Amazon's guide lines on writing a cutomer review. My view on this book was deleted my Amazon (UK) and therefore my view as an Asperger on the book has been CENSORED by Amazon in the UK.

[Gareth Roberts]

I'm afraid we've become big brother society. Everything we do is logged, monitored and anything remotely negative or bad is stopped right away.

No such thing as free speech anymore - I dare mention why on this forum or they'd take us offline. But to basically explain what I mean, here's an example... you cant put Christmas tree lights up in some places or sing christmas carols because it offends some people. So you know... I wont say anymore.

Same goes for reviews, if it's negative the company holds the right to revoke that review to give them better brand image. I know of several companies whom do that, and some who choose to take the critism.

[Stephen]

Gareth - Some good news.

I contacted Amazon and made an offical complaint about the removal of my review. I stated that I have Asperger's Syndrome and that my review was most probably more important and I'm able to better judge books on Asperger's Syndrome than the reviews written by Neuro Typicals, (most customer reviews concerning books on Asperger's are written by NT's). I also stated that I remained with in Amazons cutomer review guidelines and that in the UK we are entitled to Free speech unlike in the USA.

3 days after my complaint Amazon reinstated my review.

[Stephen]

Gareth - Bad news I'm afraid.

Just after writing my previous post, I had a quick look on Amazon just to check to see if my customer review was still there. Guess what?? It's been deleted again.

You know us Asperger's, I'm not giving up on this.

At the end of a review there is (Report this), which I think some one is doing.

From Amazon.co.uk web site - What to include in a review:

"Your review should be a genuine review of the product, discussing the quality of the product and your opinion of it. Make your review as informative and detailed as possible. The best reviews include not only whether you liked or disliked the product, but also why. Feel free to mention other items you consider similar and how this products rates in comparison to them.

A good way to approach writing a customer review is to imagine that you are deciding whether to buy a particular book: what information could you put in your review that might help other customers with this decision?"

[Stephen]

Gareth - My Amazon customer review has still not reappeared.

As I've already asked, is there any possiblity that you can put in a completely new section were we are able to freely review books on Asperger's and were the reviewer is requested to put whether they are an Asperger or not??

[Gareth Roberts]

Hmmm strange stuff. Didn't know there was no free speach in the states? And anyway, I dont think there is here anymore. Less said the better anyway, touchy subject for most people.