The Winds of Winter question

Some people use ratings to express their excitement about an unreleased book or their frustration on how long it's taking to release it. If you consider the fact that probably, most of these people will likely read the book as soon as it's released and make any necessary adjustments to the rating when they're done, it's safe to assume that while the pre-release ratings may not be very useful, the post-release ratings are probably an accurate representation of what readers thought about the book.

For pre-releases, generally speaking, I ignore the average rating and see if there are any ARC's (advanced review copies - distributed by the publisher for promotional purposes). A few thorough reviews will tell me more than the average rating anyway. Actually, I first see if I can get my hands on an ARC! If not, then I look to see who else has.

Not bot, just idiots. They invalidate the rating system for this site and the admins do nothing about it, clearly hoping the fanatic fans will drive up their click-through sales.

I think the policy of allowing to rate a book before the advance reader copies are out is asinine. I'm just as ticked at the five star ratings as the 2 star rating on one of my books that doesn't even have an ISBN yet and won't be out until fall. It's ridiculous and not helpful for readers.

morons the lot of them

bots clearly