Message from a Parallel Universe...over-positive endorsements

[Aimee Farr]

Tim May said:

> Besides the trend of people to give positive endorsements more than
> negative endorsements (fear of lawsuits is also an issue), it's
> apparent that most people are simply reporting on whom they have...

I thought this paper might be of interest, which lends further support to
what Tim said. The gist, as I'm sure most of you know, is that people
compete to be heard and seek to validate their personal choices. This is why
MOST books on Amazon have 5-star reviews.

Noisytalk.com: Broadcasting Opinions in a Noisy Environment
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?cfid=451800&cftoken=34547406&abstract
_id=255318
ANAT R. ADMATI
Stanford University
PAUL C. PFLEIDERER
Stanford University

I sent this to a particular ABA official as support for my contention that
consumer lawyer-rating communities could construct their dynamics in like
fashion - misleading consumers while putting forth an appearance of
impartiality. The paper was a little too mathematically-inclined for my
audience.

~Aimee