Tom's Double Life

Close observers of Amazon.com noticed something peculiar this week: the company's Canadian site had suddenly revealed the identities of thousands of people...-NY Times

As a result of the bug, several authors were exposed reviewing their own books anonymously over Amazon and giving themselves good ratings to boost sales. The glitch also revealed that a shocking 87% of negative reviews on Amazon were penned by one Thomas Q. Taxter. Given the large number of books we're talking about here, it is highly unlikely that Tom has even read a fraction of the ones he has reviewed. It is quite unfair then that he has written such harsh comments as "this book is a betrayl of all that is good and beautiful, its author ought to get cancer and die" and called writers of positive reviews "little toads" and "mental defectives". This incident suggests that Messr. Taxter might be nothing more than a mean spirit crank and not the high minded defender of the public discourse he makes himself out to be.