BYU Ward Provokes Controversy, Tells Mbrs to Post 5-Star BOM Reviews on Amazon

[Rain]

44 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

I haven't checked, but my guess is that on sites such as Amazon, the Bible is widely rated with five stars.

Those who appreciate the Book of Mormon have just as valid reason for rating it highly as Bible devotees have for rating the Bible highly.

And in both instances, I take their honesty for granted.

 

Like I said I don't have a problem with others rating scriptures high. I just feel that when a challenge like this is given it adds in an extra element to how the ratings will go.  

I got curious and you are right that the bible, unless it is a special version with notes or cover etc, does have many ratings of 5 stars -it has a large amount of 5 stars and then jumps back to 4, then down with each level of stars.  It makes sense - quite a few people love it and then it narrows down. 

Then I looked at the BoM.   Huge amount of 5 and 1 stars with almost nothing on 2,3 and 4 stars.

So I looked at other books.  In general the ratings fell in descending order like the bible did.  There were a few books like Eat, Pray Love that had a mass at both the 5 stars and the 1 star, but there were enough in between that the 5 and 1 really didn't stick out much.  

In the ratings I went through the BoM ratings just stick out.  It's really not the 1 rating that make it stick out.  It is the lack of 2, 3 and 4.  So it could be said this is the most correct book and people get closer to God through it and so it makes sense to have so many 5 and 1 and that is true.  But I think we would be ignoring that some of it may be because some people are just doing it as missionary work (for either side) and not rating the BoM realistically or maybe even how they really feel about it. 

[Scott Lloyd]

58 minutes ago, Thinking said:

So it is newsworthy?

That's a subjective judgment. Smac makes a strong case as to why it isn't.

 

[Scott Lloyd]

28 minutes ago, Rain said:

Like I said I don't have a problem with others rating scriptures high. I just feel that when a challenge like this is given it adds in an extra element to how the ratings will go.  

I got curious and you are right that the bible, unless it is a special version with notes or cover etc, does have many ratings of 5 stars -it has a large amount of 5 stars and then jumps back to 4, then down with each level of stars.  It makes sense - quite a few people love it and then it narrows down. 

Then I looked at the BoM.   Huge amount of 5 and 1 stars with almost nothing on 2,3 and 4 stars.

So I looked at other books.  In general the ratings fell in descending order like the bible did.  There were a few books like Eat, Pray Love that had a mass at both the 5 stars and the 1 star, but there were enough in between that the 5 and 1 really didn't stick out much.  

In the ratings I went through the BoM ratings just stick out.  It's really not the 1 rating that make it stick out.  It is the lack of 2, 3 and 4.  So it could be said this is the most correct book and people get closer to God through it and so it makes sense to have so many 5 and 1 and that is true.  But I think we would be ignoring that some of it may be because some people are just doing it as missionary work (for either side) and not rating the BoM realistically or maybe even how they really feel about it. 

If one feels so ardently about the Book of Mormon that he is willing to go into the world and promote it through "missionary work" (including giving it high ratings on the Amazon website), I see no reason to doubt his sincerity in rating it highly, just as I wouldn't doubt the sincerity of one who loves the Bible and rates it highly.

 

[Calm]

38 minutes ago, Rain said:

Like I said I don't have a problem with others rating scriptures high. I just feel that when a challenge like this is given it adds in an extra element to how the ratings will go.  

I got curious and you are right that the bible, unless it is a special version with notes or cover etc, does have many ratings of 5 stars -it has a large amount of 5 stars and then jumps back to 4, then down with each level of stars.  It makes sense - quite a few people love it and then it narrows down. 

Then I looked at the BoM.   Huge amount of 5 and 1 stars with almost nothing on 2,3 and 4 stars.

So I looked at other books.  In general the ratings fell in descending order like the bible did.  There were a few books like Eat, Pray Love that had a mass at both the 5 stars and the 1 star, but there were enough in between that the 5 and 1 really didn't stick out much.  

In the ratings I went through the BoM ratings just stick out.  It's really not the 1 rating that make it stick out.  It is the lack of 2, 3 and 4.  So it could be said this is the most correct book and people get closer to God through it and so it makes sense to have so many 5 and 1 and that is true.  But I think we would be ignoring that some of it may be because some people are just doing it as missionary work (for either side) and not rating the BoM realistically or maybe even how they really feel about it. 

I wouldn't give it a five star for the same reasons mostly.  Five stars mean something else to me and I believe most who use them than "meaningful" or "lifealtering".  I wouldn't give my life a five star rating either and I think my life is great.

[Thinking]

28 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

That's a subjective judgment. Smac makes a strong case as to why it isn't.

I just thought it ironic that for something not newsworthy a thread was started about it.

[The Nehor]

Yeah, I thought you had to have bought the product on Amazon to post a review. So are antis buying the book in order to post negative reviews. Does the church leader who made this sell book of Mormon's online. I smell a conspiracy?

[Rain]

29 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

If one feels so ardently about the Book of Mormon that he is willing to go into the world and promote it through "missionary work" (including giving it high ratings on the Amazon website), I see no reason to doubt his sincerity in rating it highly, just as I wouldn't doubt the sincerity of one who loves the Bible and rates it highly.

 

Then we are agreed, because I wouldn't doubt anyone's sincerity either. 

[ALarson]

17 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Yeah, I thought you had to have bought the product on Amazon to post a review. So are antis buying the book in order to post negative reviews. Does the church leader who made this sell book of Mormon's online. I smell a conspiracy?

Well, you can download the Book of Mormon on your kindle for free, so maybe that's what some are doing?

I think you can leave a feedback review even if you haven't purchased it though.  It just won't note on your review that it's written by a person with a "Verified Purchase".

.

Edited March 1, 2016 by ALarson

[Scott Lloyd]

20 minutes ago, Thinking said:

I just thought it ironic that for something not newsworthy a thread was started about it.

Well it already has the attention if it's in the news in the first place. Starting a discussion about whether the attention is warranted is reasonable.