2.9 star rating???

Okay, maybe this is new math, but I just don’t get it.

Recently I went to check on my Amazon.com page, No Bridge Too Far, a documentary I created a few years back. Imagine my surprise when I saw that I had a 2.9 star rating. OMG, I exclaimed. What happened? So I quickly scrolled to the bottom of my page to read my reviews, and what do I see?  All FIVE STAR RATINGS. What is going on? Can someone explain to me how (10) five star reviews equals a 2.9?

It wasn’t like that before, so I contacted Amazon, and this is the response I received today.

Hello,

For No Bridge Too Far – Part One, we include ratings that are Amazon Verified Purchases in the overall star rating. We do not consider ratings without an Amazon Verified Purchase status in the overall star rating until a customer also adds more details like text, image or video. If you’d like to learn more information about the Amazon Verified Purchase program, please visit our help page (https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202076110).

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Best regards,
Mhar V.
Amazon.com

I wasn’t asking about verified purchases. I understand that. I just want the math explained to me. So I wrote back to them and sent them screenshots. Maybe that will get my point across! Sigh!

March 1, 2020

Got a secondary reply from Amazon today:

Hello Proud Daughter,

One Tap Review is a new feature that allows our customer to leave a star rating on Verified Purchase orders without leaving review text.

Amazon strives to cultivate a diversity of opinion on our products while staying within our guidelines. Part of that is allowing our customers to air their honest thoughts on items they have received.

As previously advised, please note that we include all customer ratings and reviews in the overall product star rating. If you would like to learn more about star rating calculation

Thank you for reaching out to us.​

We’d appreciate your feedback. Please use the buttons below to vote about your experience today.

Best regards,
Zelda

So, now people can leave reviews that we the authors, are not allowed to see. What the hell! Really!  When did this practice come into being. Does anyone reading this, think it’s fair? The customer is allowed to give their honest thoughts. Well, how about me getting to read those honest thoughts. I’m sorry, but this new feature, sucks. There, how’s that for being eloquent?