I started this new thread as the old one was getting so long as to intimidate anyone from joining us on this project. If you want to go back and clean up the reviews in the previous threads, here they are:

More reviews to clean up  http://www.paperbackswap.com/forum/topic.php?t=61587&l=25&ls=0

Bored, Let's Clean up the Reviews  http://www.paperbackswap.com/forum/topic.php?t=58431

THIS IS IMPORTANT:  Be sure to read the section on rating reviews here: Club Members' Thoughts, Want to help with Data & Images? Find help here.  http://www.paperbackswap.com/forum/search.php?q=I+have+consolodated+tips+and+answers+from+that+topic.&s_type=st&fid=0&action=search   And I would like to emphasize that any book review that states an opinion about the book or adds more information to the synopsis is an acceptable review. 

Please DO NOT list the "good book" type reviews here. While I realize that many of you do not think that "good book" is a review, and I agree that it isn?t a good review, the purpose of this thread is to remove the debris that is not just unhelpful to you, but unhelpful to anyone.  Because of that, I suggest that we not post the minimalist reviews in this thread, no matter how we decide to vote on them.  (And a little charity and understanding would be appreciated here; maybe they don't express themselves well and that's the best that they can do.  Many people find it helpful to know that others thought a book was a "good book".)

Please DO NOT link to a person's review list or profile.  This can cause offense, and that is not our intent.  If you find that a person has posted many non-reviews, you may link to a listing that has a review of theirs and then note that the person who said "__" has other non-reviews (this is easier if theirs is the only review in the listing).  NEVER put their name or nickname in this forum.  (Besides the fact that they may come upon this topic and see them, names and nicknames are searchable and some folks do that to see who?s talking about them.)  

Remember that some of the reviews date from the period when the club was newly formed and the software operated differently then.  At one time there was a big blank "review" box every time you posted a book that implied that you had to post a review, plus there was no way to edit the listings, so blurbs were added in reviews to listings that had no descriptions.  To make matters worse, you couldn't see (without going out of your way) whether anyone else had added a blurb in a review, so there are many repeats.  

Some of the reviews were done by people who were very new to the club (we all were once), and they may have since learned to do better.  To sum up: give 'em a break; just mark the junk thumbs down so that the cream rises to the top.  

Anytime you're looking at reviews, vote a few (or more) reviews as helpful.  Besides encouraging the people who wrote the reviews, it helps this process as the helpful reviews are moved up and the unhelpful are moved down.  Marking the good reviews as "thumbs up" is even more effective than marking the non-reviews as "thumbs down"--it sorts the best reviews to the top.

For people new to this thread:  There seems to be a perception that this is a closed club, and that only a few can nominate listings to have reviews voted down, but it's open to anyone who wants to join in!  Even if we don't get a non-review removed, it at least will be moved to the bottom of the list, so that you may not get that far before deciding whether you want to read the particular book.  When posting here, please put the link to the main listing, not the page you get with "see all reviews".  If you need to click on "see all reviews" to get to reviews that need to be voted down, just put in the link for the main listing, and note that we need to click on "see all reviews" to get to the review(s) in question.  However, a review that may be seen without clicking "See All Reviews" can move out of sight after rating if there are a lot of reviews. Your rating will affect its position in the list, and the bottom of the list is what is not shown without clicking "See All Reviews".

• Condition: anything about the condition of the book--water stains, torn cover, etc.

• Blurb: a repeat of the description in the listing--if there is no description in the listing, the best course of action is to edit the listing, and then post the listing in this thread with a note that the listing has been edited.  If it is a different blurb that has additional information about the book, it should be left alone

•   Duplicate review: sometimes people manage to get the same review in more than once--it's not supposed to be possible, but has happened anyway OR many people put in the same review copied from elsewhere--in this case, leave the one with the earliest date alone

• Different cover:  some people just say that their cover is different

• Haven?t read:  I can't figure out why someone would write a review just to say that they had not read the book, but people do!

• Booktype: amazingly, some people will put in a review that they have posted a paperback to a hardback listing--and expect that to tell everyone that they will get a paperback if they request that person's book!

• Non-review:  anything else that isn't a review--blank reviews, numbers, etc.  

To post, all you have to do is type in your category, then copy the complete URL to the post.  Click once on the URL of the listing you want to report to mark it, copy, and then paste it in your post.  You will still see the entire URL, but after you hit "Submit Reply", you will see that the URL has been converted and it will look like:  Link.  I have noticed that if I don't get the entire URL (for instance, if I miss getting the http:// ) that it doesn't convert to the "Link ".  

To post, first put in your category (such as blurb, condition, etc.) then copy or type the title.  Use the link button to call up the pop-up and enter the url.  You may start with "http://" or www., it doesn't matter.  If you put in the title and mark it before you call up the link popup, the final post will be the title linked to the book's page.  If you do not link the url, it will show the complete address.  So your post could look like this in the first case:

Blurb:Annie's Song

Or like this in the second:

Blurb:http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780380779611-Annies+Song

Be careful to post before you do your "thumbs down" in the listing; if for some reason your screen is refreshed, the review in quesiton may not be visible.

We no longer have a "_ of _ members found this review helpful" to keep track of where we are on getting rid of junk reviews, so we just plug along in the dark.  

Here's the initial post in the first thread; this was all started by AngieB901 (AngieB.):  This is what I propose. Look at the reviews for the books on your shelf. Any books that have reviews that are blatantly not a review--basically either a book condition or random numbers--(not reviews that you don't necessarily like, like "good book") click that it is unhelpful and link it here for those of us that are bored to give thumbs down. After 20 or so thumbs down, the review is removed. I will keep track of the thread and add new links to this first post so that people don't have to scroll through the thread. I will also delete them as soon as I can, after they are removed, so you don't have to go looking for bad reviews that have already been removed. Thanks!

Angie seems to have gotten overwhelmed by her own project as it outgrew her ability to cope with it.  So--there is no effort made to consolidate the links or delete them when a review is removed.  Just start from here and go forward, or go back exactly as far as you want in the posting history. If you want to make sure that you are not duplicating a post, you may search this topic for the ISBN.  If you don't find it, it hasn't been posted here before.  If it was posted a long time ago, though, reviews that need to be rated may have been added since it was posted, and a duplicate post is appropriate. 

condition:  Link

blurbs:  http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780373767670-The+Unexpected+Millionaire+Million+Dollar+Catch+Bk+2+Silhouette+Desire+No+1767

Linda,

I see what you mean about these books reviews.  My mom is also on PBS and she had done a few book "reviews" as these problem ones.  She just stated that it was hardcover rather than softcover.  Anyways a fellow PBSer sent her a very nice PM telling her what was wrong with her "review".  After that she did understand why this was wrong.  Problem fixed. 

I have not posted a link before so this is my first one.  It about the 2nd or 3rd review down.  Let me know if this works and if so I will continue to post here the problem reviews I find.  I have noticed that when you find someone who has made an incorrect review, if you look at all the reviews they have done this problem is repeated more than once. 

Anyways, here is the link. 

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780375709166-Saul+and+Patsy+Vintage+Contemporaries

book type: towards the bottom

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780743470117-Goodnight+Nobody

blurb:  http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780778325789-8+Sandpiper+Way

Last one, advertising his bookshelf:

Link

Haven't read, partway down:

Link

Blurbs (click "see all reviews"): http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/reviews.php?isbn=9781558531024

Blurb

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780452286535-The+Jane+Austen+Book+Club

Blurb: http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780373260867-Deadly+Promise http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780425216347-French+Kiss+Berkley+Sensation http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9781597892940-Darcys+Inheritance

Condition http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780345260796-Star+Wars+From+the+Adventures+of+Luke+Skywalker  bottom of page: http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780439358064-Harry+Potter+and+the+Order+of+the+Phoenix+Book+5 

Haven't read (bottom of page) http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9781878424310-The+Four+Agreements+A+Practical+Guide+to+Personal+Freedom

Never read Link near bottom of page

Different cover Link 2 at the bottom

Condition: http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780816738366-101+Ways+To+Boost+Your+Math+Skills

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780380718030-Feeling+Good+The+New+Mood+Therapy

copy of 'From Cover'

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780449149911-Lost+Boy+Lost+Girl

From Cover

Portion of cover

Didn't read it

Blurb from cover:

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780156007108-Strange+Fits+of+Passion

Not read book:

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780345410399-Fancy+Strut

Review taken directly from cover.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780345464958-The+Last+Girls

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/reviews.php?isbn=9780307276902

Double reviews

non a reviews 

Book condition

'back of the book' 

repeats 

Didn't read the book

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/reviews.php?isbn=9780425101452

description copy- on 11/18/2006  ,   on 5/23/2006...

This link has 2 entries with blurbs from cover

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780786887064-Trading+Up

This link has 1 entry with blurb from cover

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780425195130-Always+the+Bridesmaid

Last review is direct blurb from the cover

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9781400051458-Wedding+Season

about book type

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780380776849-Heaven+Texas

blurb from book

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780064472272-Angus+Thongs+and+FullFrontal+Snogging+Confessions+of+Georgia+Nicolson

Tiffanie, please don't do this to yourself.  Just point other people to the listing, give them a hint of what's in it, and let it go.  If it takes longer than a few minutes, you're overdoing it.  Here's how I would have posted  A Million Little Pieces, ISBN-10: 0307276902:

Multiple blurbs, condition, haven't read (click "see all reviews"): http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/reviews.php?isbn=9780307276902  

That's it.  Your time is more valuable than that.  Go read a book.  :)

Oh, and just a reminder to everyone:  we can't edit anyone else's review so we can't (or shouldn't) do anything about people who can't spell or type, who copy other people's opinions (unless there are multiple in the same listing), or whose opinion is not stated clearly or that we do not agree with.  This thread's purpose is just to get the ones out or to the bottom that don't say anything at all. 

Oh, hahahaha! Sorry, I guess the Virgo in me came out :) I can be a tad anal LOL

I was just trying to make it easier :)

Also Tiffanie: I wouldn't put the person's name in this thread. If they happen to come on and see it, they might get upset. 

and no it's not pick on Tiffanie day :-)).  Just trying to save you from a nasty PM from someone.

Mary, you're right, and that one is my fault for putting the suggestion in.  I forget sometimes how touchy (and then nasty) people can often be. 

Oh, I was just trying to be helpful. I'll go back and take them out.

Better?

You folks are exhausting--there used to be a post about once a week or so--I love the enthusiasm and participation.  A suggestion--when you look at these listings and find that the description is incomplete or missing, you could edit it.  Ditto for missing date, number of pages or genre.