Hello, SE readers. I would venture there isn’t an author who at one time or another, hasn’t been upset with Amazon and its review policies.

It doesn’t matter if you are a verified purchase owner of a book if Amazon even slightly suspects you might have a connection with the author they won’t approve your review, saying you might be “biased” in favor of the author. (I’ve wondered if someone posted a one-star review if they would reject it.)

However, Amazon will often allow what appear to be trolls to post their scathing reviews—verified purchase or not. And if we protest… Well, let’s say I’ve read horror stories about authors whom Amazon has taken down their books due to various reasons .

And even though I shop Amazon more often than any other retailer, I often wonder how much simpler our lives would be without them. I do know they…