“There’s been a lot of stuff going around the interwebs lately about douchefucks paying for positive reviews, guerrilla reviewing their rivals with one star attacks, sock-puppetry and so forth. I blogged about it a little bit here and a web search will show loads of other people weighing in on the debate. The net result of all this is primarily twofold.

1. People are now distrustful of all positive reviews;

2. The real victims are readers, because now no one knows what or who to trust.”

There are ways to fight this trend.

“Whenever you read a book, take a moment to do the following:

•  Talk about the book, online and IRL.
• Tell people you read it and what you thought.
•  Tweet, Facebook, Google+, etc. a quick comment about it, like “I just really enjoyed/hated reading This Book by An Author.”
•  Go to Amazon, Goodreads or any other bookish place you frequent and click a star-rating.
•  If you have time while you’re there, jot down a few lines quickly about why you rated the book the way you did. You don’t have to be super eloquent or anything. Just honest.
•  If you have time, spend a bit longer on a more thoughtful review.
•  If you have a blog, maybe write a blog post about the book.
•  If you enjoyed the book, buy it for a friend, family member or colleague for their birthday or anniversary or just because you’re a hoopy frood.
•  If you hated the book, buy it for an enemy, because you’re cold like that, you mean sonofabitch.
•  If you’re part of a book group, suggest the book as a future read for your group.
•  Talk about the book, online and IRL.”

  via A way to fight the review buyers and sockpuppetmasters – The Word – According To Me | The Word.