Owner of dive charter Goby charged with several counts of poaching

[red_instead]

After Mr. James asked me not to mention his name again, he left this review of my book on Amazon. If this thread didn't show you what his character was, leaving that review out of retribution should.
Diving the Palos Verdes Peninsula: Phil Garner: 9781469981925: Amazon.com: Books

What'a really funny is that this thread would've in all likelihood stayed dead but for Adam James' buddy coming on here and posting that huge rant.

 

[AZTinman]

Well Phil, despite the presence of that one star review, Colleen and I bought your book awhile back. We liked it a lot, but that's just us! (lol)

-AZTinman

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Thanks to everyone for the support. After a weekend dealing with liars, poachers and thieves it is good to read something positive.

 

[red_instead]

I do have to say, I had previously purchased your book and found it both accurate and enjoyable. And your photo posts are something that I look forward to.

 

[keithbt]

I do have to say, I had previously purchased your book and found it both accurate and enjoyable. And your photo posts are something that I look forward to.

Right on!

I too have purchased 2 of your books, one for my boat and one for a friends!....F#!@ Adam James!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

This is Amazon's reply;

Message From Customer Service​

Hello, I've read the review titled "A very inaccurate book of about local So Cal Scuba Diving," for the book titled "Diving the Palos Verdes Peninsula." I understand your concerns, but the review doesn't violate our posted guidelines, so I'm unable to remove it in its current format. However, as the author of this title, you can provide feedback about this review by voting or commenting on it. To vote, click the "Yes" or "No" buttons next to "Was this review helpful to you?" To comment, click the Comments link at the bottom of the review. We try to encourage our customers to give their honest opinions on our products while staying within our guidelines. As a retailer we are interested in cultivating a diversity of opinion on our products. Part of that is allowing our customers to air their honest thoughts on items they have received.

 

[undrwater]

And here we have the good, the bad, and the ugly of the internet.

People are becoming savvy reading reviews though. People I talk to generally avoid reviews that report "it's bad...I present no evidence other than to say, trust me."

 

[Lee Coller]

Max -- Just posted a 5 star review of your book. As a boat owner your book is indispensable. Much better than any of the other dive books out there for California that I have seen.

 

[tech_diver]

I'm a half a continent away from this incident so I can't say that I have any special knowledge of these poaching allegations. I don't know one way or another. Honestly, the boat captain's story of screwed up local fish and game authorities rang very true with my experiences of government agencies. I watched the story unfold on SB with the passing interest of somebody who wants to protect the ocean as much as anybody else but didn't have any legitimate say in the incident one way or another. It was not my place to have an opinion.

But then the Amazon thing came up...

As a writer with a few books on Amazon and a publisher who works with over a dozen writers that have multiple books on Amazon, this is my backyard. I have seen this before and it is an issue that authors (and Amazon) have struggled with for years. How do you authenticate real reviews from those of people with some personal problem with the writer? As artists, we put ourselves out there to be judged and most writers I know don't have a problem with negative feedback as long as there is truth in it, we need it to grow.

But when a jilted ex-girlfriend, disgruntled business partner or pissed-off mother-in-law use it as a venue to attack an individual writer with an anonymous review, there are not a lot of options. Amazon does what they can and in fact started the 'verified purchase' tag on reviews so you could tell if the person at least bought the book they're trashing. After dealing with this for quite a number of years, we've found clues to help ferret out fake reviews.

- The reviewer has only reviewed one product. (In this case, the negative review and one other for a very general product written the same exact day as the negative review.)

- No 'verified purchase' tag

- No specific details cited in the review

Usually these attack reviews are done under a fake profile. It is uncommon that a person would use their real name.

Generally, all we can do is hope that real reviews overwhelm the single griefer and try to ignore them. I think in this case MaxBT's reply and the support of his readers will prevail easily.

If I didn't have any opinions about the parties involved in this incident before, I do now.

 

[Divebum Don]

Aww Jeezz, what a thread Hi-Jack... Poachers Suck!! nuff said. I don't judge Adam, that's way below my pay grade...
Phil is an upstanding and MOST giving contributor to our diving community!!! His #'s are rock solid, I've been hittin" these sweet spots ever since they invented Loran...

<edit>
OK, I fished off the Redondo Barge many times, long before they sunk it. And I admit I wasn't around when Loran was conceived by my friends "Pops" in Aerospace.... Can You Say (LO)ng (RA)nge (N)avigation...
Good Luck Adam