United Kingdom: Science Media Centre (including Fiona Fox)

I found this statement very hard to take seriously. sounds a little more like "truthiness" than the truth.

 

I had to look that up. Apparently from Stephen Colbert?
Somehow it sounds as if it's wearing a gingham frock.

 

Even if he doesn’t write about it, at least Brian’s blog and hopefully the other links I put in the thread will be seen by his 402,300 followers.

[edit to add: I was in two minds whether it was better to ignore the book and hope nobody paid much attention to it, or to try to highlight the problems with it. I obviously decided on the latter but I’m still unsure.]

 

This raises again how the book got some initial five star ratings, if it is not possible to rate it without leaving a review.

 

this is whats sticking in my craw. It seems suspicious to me

 

It IS suspicious.
But no worries. Those that laugh last laugh longest. As Ms Fox may discover.

 

The Amazon.com site does not add up either. One positive review seems to be 61% and lots of negative 39%.

 

From: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GQUXAMY73JFRVJHE :

“Amazon calculates a product's star rating using machine-learned models instead of a simple average.

These models take into account factors such as how recent the rating or review is and verified purchase status. They use multiple criteria that establish the authenticity of the feedback. The system continues to learn and improve over time.

We do not consider customer ratings without an Amazon Verified Purchase status in a product's overall star rating until a customer adds more details in the form of text, image or video.”

As far as I understand, you can leave a rating without a review if you’ve bought the product on Amazon. I imagine Fox or her publisher asked a handful of people to buy copies and leave 5 star
ratings on day one – I think that’s fairly common practice.

 

but you cant. I have tried it with several other books that i have bought on amazon & it wouldnt let me do it. No possibility of leaving a star rating without leaving text

 

I can if I go into my past orders and click “write a review”. Then it lets me just give a star ratings and it says “submitted” after I have done so, without me writing a review.

 

Deliciously ironic, isn't it? That had she left out this all-hype chapter, her book would probably only have positive reviews. It's a small industry and most seem to know one another, even if just generally. And I'm sorry but I can't help but notice just how strongly UK medicine (maybe it's academia?) is a suck-up culture, praise must be given to superiors at all times for those who want to climb the ladder.

Her book could have been a small celebration of herself, admired by others. Instead it's trashed, and rightfully so, showing blatant errors and, frankly, propaganda. It puts focus on how misguided the whole organization is, how it should simply close down for good.

And the book is named beyond the hype, you couldn't make this up. Any formal response really should be titled "Behind the hype".

 

really? i tried to do exactly that and it wont let me, they obviously like you better

 

yes, to describe political discourse in the US.

 

I daren't read them. Are they as bad as one suspects?