7 ms·

Bad reviews for Taser documentary seem to come from Taser employees

119 points by coloneltcb 11y ago

DiabloD3 11y ago
This news is pretty shocking.
- minimaxir 11y ago
  sigh Of all the Reddit trends, pun threads are the worst.
  - DiabloD3 11y ago
    I regret nothing.
  - DanBC 11y ago
    I do wonder how many people are going to make the same pun, because they don't have showdead set to on and can't see all the already flag-killed previous attempts.
    - simoncion 11y ago
      At the time of this writing, we're up to one. :)
  - roflchoppa 11y ago
    Don't wanna comment jack here, but that's mostly what Reddit is, people circle jerking puns.
  - ryandrake 11y ago
    I don't know--I was kind of amped up about it. EDIT: Aww come on folks--Didn't realize there was so much resistance to humor. I guess this site is only for current events, and nobody gets a charge out of puns.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - knieveltech 11y ago
      "Didn't realize there was so much resistance to humor." You must be new. Welcome to Hacker News (suck it).
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
targaf 11y ago
This news is pretty shocking.
CPLX 11y ago
The Guardian asked Steve Tuttle, Taser's vice-president for strategic communications, if he felt that staff should disclose their employment when reviewing reviews of the documentary. He told the newspaper, "Are you fucking joking? It's a free country and they can do what they want." I can only imagine what the VP for impulsive communications might have said.
- mmastrac 11y ago
  Posted the exact same quote just a second after you... I'd expect to read that in The Onion rather than as a real response from a company executive. Wild.
  - mh- 11y ago
    I re-read that paragraph a few times thinking it was surely some sort of paraphrase. I didn't have any interest in this documentary (I wasn't even aware it existed), but now I have to see what prompted such an emotional and poorly thought-out response from TASER.
- Splines 11y ago
  Well, something must be going down, seeing as at least one review was deleted and re-posted under a different name.
- nether 11y ago
  He has people skills. What the hell is wrong with you?
  - jostmey 11y ago
    http://www.reactiongifs.us/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you-people-office-space/ http://www.reactiongifs.us/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you-p...
- banku_brougham 11y ago
  haha. i had to reread his title "strategic communications". Sounds like a great corporate culture, anybody know if Taser is hiring.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
alexandercrohde 11y ago
Two thoughts-- 1. I'm not at all surprised, I've known this kind of thing has been going on and I'm sure it's largely underreported. Heck, the previous place I worked constantly asked employees to give five star reviews to the app we wrote. Multiple places I worked have asked us to write good glassdoor reviews. 2. It entirely undermines the integrity of rating systems, as only a couple extreme reviews can do major damage to a rating. This is the marketplace's problem as much as it is the community's, and some marketplaces (e.g. Amazon) have taken up suing fake/paid reviews. So I'm not surprised, but I think it's abhorrent and does huge damage to the marketplace as a whole (I'll watch fewer movies if I can't trust ratings).
- smsm42 11y ago
  1. Asking for Glassdoor reviews is kind of OK, since Glassdoor is meant for employees to write about their employment. Amazon reviews, OTOH, are not meant to be about reviews by the salespeople of the company in question. 2. Suing is hugely expensive, but having some sort of tracking (even better if linked to real identity, such as credit cards, etc. - without displaying one) of the reviewer's own reputation might help. I.e. if we knew one Uriel Halioua has a track record of trashing critics of his company, one could dismiss his reviews. Of course, making custom score calculations on Amazon scale would be hugely computationally expensive...
  - semi-extrinsic 11y ago
    > Asking for Glassdoor reviews is kind of OK, since Glassdoor is meant for employees to write about their employment. Agreed, it's no different than a restaurant asking you to give them a good rating on Tripadvisor or whatever. You can even argue it's good for future employees/customers, since someone with a nice experience might not even think about reviewing it, and you end up getting mostly the bad reviews. It's ok as long as there is no coercion.
  - simoncion 11y ago
    > Asking for Glassdoor reviews is kind of OK, since Glassdoor is meant for employees to write about their employment. But asking for "good Glassdoor reviews"? That's a shitty practice that's in the same class as "Politely suggest that all employees vote for $CANDIDATE in $UPCOMING_ELECTION" or somewhat similar to the District President doing: "At the end of an all-hands meeting, mention that employee contributions to the company lobbyist have dramatically fallen off recently, present and drop on to the presenter's table a stack of ~1000 contribution forms, pull one off of the top, and fill it out, announcing that you're making your contribution right here and now and that -while you're not instructing anyone to do so- everyone is more than welcome to do the same.".
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
smsm42 11y ago
The most astonishing aspect of it is even not that salespeople thought trashing critics is a good sales tactics, but that they did it under their real names apparently not expecting anyone to discover they have a conflict of interest. I mean, shouldn't people already start thinking about "your name and employment on Linkedin + your name under review = major embarrassment waiting to happen"? And looks like the management encourages them.
- fredkbloggs 11y ago
  Why would they be concerned? Their customers are cops. Cops have decided they want Tasers, and cops do whatever they want whether you like it or not. The response to the flap is just good business; posting the reviews in the first place was simply a waste of time because no amount of public outrage is going to change what cops do. That's been about as thoroughly demonstrated over the past 24 months as any theory of basic science has in the last 500 years.
greenyoda 11y ago
Given how easy it is to post fake reviews on Amazon, I don't put much faith in reviews unless they have the "Verified Purchase" tag. The big flaw in the system is that unverified reviews affect the overall rating as much as verified reviews. It would be nice if Amazon had an option to display an overall rating based only on reviews from verified purchasers.
- nathancahill 11y ago
  Oh, don't get me started on Amazon reviews. Even the "Verified Purchase" tag is gamed by sellers. There's an entire cottage industry of providing products in exchange for good reviews. For example, look at the reviews on the "#1 Best Seller in Pepper Shakers"[0]. Most of the reviews (even the ones with the "Verified Purchase" tag will say "Product provided for review courtesy of sponsor" towards the end). I'm researching and scarping reviews to write a thorough article on gaming the #1 spot in Amazon's many categories, and it's looking like it's much more valuable than the famous "Buy Installs" industry for #1 spots in the App Store. I don't believe there is much incentive on Amazon's part to crack down on fake reviews, since they are selling products either way. [0] http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Pepper-Mill-Set-Adjustable/dp/B00TQ8520K/ http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Pepper-Mill-Set-Adjustable/dp/B00...
  - username223 11y ago
    It's kind of mind-blowing that "gaming the reviews of a dispenser for a spice worth less than $10/lb on a shopping site" is a paying thing.
profquail 11y ago
I was curious to read the reviews that'd been left but didn't have links, so: http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Them-Safely-Rick-Smith/dp/B017V4J0M6 http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Them-Safely-Rick-Smith/dp/B017... https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/killing-them-safely/id1053690244 https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/killing-them-safely/id1053...
Semiapies 11y ago
But how many reviews are from Taser, and how much are they affecting ratings? There are always bullshit reviews (and whole blogs making fun of them). Is this just a few execs being petulant little shits, or is this part of a significant, organized effort by Taser?
Yver 11y ago
Over the years, I saw the language in the Taser article on Wikipedia go from "less-lethal" to "less-than-lethal" (shortly) to "non-lethal" (current) when describing the weapon. In retrospect I wonder if the Taser company was involved in that change too.

119 points by coloneltcb 11y ago

DiabloD3 11y ago

This news is pretty shocking.

minimaxir 11y ago
sigh Of all the Reddit trends, pun threads are the worst.
- DiabloD3 11y ago
  I regret nothing.
- DanBC 11y ago
  I do wonder how many people are going to make the same pun, because they don't have showdead set to on and can't see all the already flag-killed previous attempts.
  - simoncion 11y ago
    At the time of this writing, we're up to one. :)
- roflchoppa 11y ago
  Don't wanna comment jack here, but that's mostly what Reddit is, people circle jerking puns.
- ryandrake 11y ago
  I don't know--I was kind of amped up about it. EDIT: Aww come on folks--Didn't realize there was so much resistance to humor. I guess this site is only for current events, and nobody gets a charge out of puns.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - knieveltech 11y ago
    "Didn't realize there was so much resistance to humor." You must be new. Welcome to Hacker News (suck it).
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

targaf 11y ago

This news is pretty shocking.

CPLX 11y ago

The Guardian asked Steve Tuttle, Taser's vice-president for strategic communications, if he felt that staff should disclose their employment when reviewing reviews of the documentary. He told the newspaper, "Are you fucking joking? It's a free country and they can do what they want." I can only imagine what the VP for impulsive communications might have said.

mmastrac 11y ago
Posted the exact same quote just a second after you... I'd expect to read that in The Onion rather than as a real response from a company executive. Wild.
- mh- 11y ago
  I re-read that paragraph a few times thinking it was surely some sort of paraphrase. I didn't have any interest in this documentary (I wasn't even aware it existed), but now I have to see what prompted such an emotional and poorly thought-out response from TASER.
Splines 11y ago
Well, something must be going down, seeing as at least one review was deleted and re-posted under a different name.
nether 11y ago
He has people skills. What the hell is wrong with you?
- jostmey 11y ago
  http://www.reactiongifs.us/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you-people-office-space/ http://www.reactiongifs.us/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you-p...
banku_brougham 11y ago
haha. i had to reread his title "strategic communications". Sounds like a great corporate culture, anybody know if Taser is hiring.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

alexandercrohde 11y ago

Two thoughts-- 1. I'm not at all surprised, I've known this kind of thing has been going on and I'm sure it's largely underreported. Heck, the previous place I worked constantly asked employees to give five star reviews to the app we wrote. Multiple places I worked have asked us to write good glassdoor reviews. 2. It entirely undermines the integrity of rating systems, as only a couple extreme reviews can do major damage to a rating. This is the marketplace's problem as much as it is the community's, and some marketplaces (e.g. Amazon) have taken up suing fake/paid reviews. So I'm not surprised, but I think it's abhorrent and does huge damage to the marketplace as a whole (I'll watch fewer movies if I can't trust ratings).

smsm42 11y ago
1. Asking for Glassdoor reviews is kind of OK, since Glassdoor is meant for employees to write about their employment. Amazon reviews, OTOH, are not meant to be about reviews by the salespeople of the company in question. 2. Suing is hugely expensive, but having some sort of tracking (even better if linked to real identity, such as credit cards, etc. - without displaying one) of the reviewer's own reputation might help. I.e. if we knew one Uriel Halioua has a track record of trashing critics of his company, one could dismiss his reviews. Of course, making custom score calculations on Amazon scale would be hugely computationally expensive...
- semi-extrinsic 11y ago
  > Asking for Glassdoor reviews is kind of OK, since Glassdoor is meant for employees to write about their employment. Agreed, it's no different than a restaurant asking you to give them a good rating on Tripadvisor or whatever. You can even argue it's good for future employees/customers, since someone with a nice experience might not even think about reviewing it, and you end up getting mostly the bad reviews. It's ok as long as there is no coercion.
- simoncion 11y ago
  > Asking for Glassdoor reviews is kind of OK, since Glassdoor is meant for employees to write about their employment. But asking for "good Glassdoor reviews"? That's a shitty practice that's in the same class as "Politely suggest that all employees vote for $CANDIDATE in $UPCOMING_ELECTION" or somewhat similar to the District President doing: "At the end of an all-hands meeting, mention that employee contributions to the company lobbyist have dramatically fallen off recently, present and drop on to the presenter's table a stack of ~1000 contribution forms, pull one off of the top, and fill it out, announcing that you're making your contribution right here and now and that -while you're not instructing anyone to do so- everyone is more than welcome to do the same.".

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

smsm42 11y ago

The most astonishing aspect of it is even not that salespeople thought trashing critics is a good sales tactics, but that they did it under their real names apparently not expecting anyone to discover they have a conflict of interest. I mean, shouldn't people already start thinking about "your name and employment on Linkedin + your name under review = major embarrassment waiting to happen"? And looks like the management encourages them.

fredkbloggs 11y ago
Why would they be concerned? Their customers are cops. Cops have decided they want Tasers, and cops do whatever they want whether you like it or not. The response to the flap is just good business; posting the reviews in the first place was simply a waste of time because no amount of public outrage is going to change what cops do. That's been about as thoroughly demonstrated over the past 24 months as any theory of basic science has in the last 500 years.

greenyoda 11y ago

Given how easy it is to post fake reviews on Amazon, I don't put much faith in reviews unless they have the "Verified Purchase" tag. The big flaw in the system is that unverified reviews affect the overall rating as much as verified reviews. It would be nice if Amazon had an option to display an overall rating based only on reviews from verified purchasers.

nathancahill 11y ago
Oh, don't get me started on Amazon reviews. Even the "Verified Purchase" tag is gamed by sellers. There's an entire cottage industry of providing products in exchange for good reviews. For example, look at the reviews on the "#1 Best Seller in Pepper Shakers"[0]. Most of the reviews (even the ones with the "Verified Purchase" tag will say "Product provided for review courtesy of sponsor" towards the end). I'm researching and scarping reviews to write a thorough article on gaming the #1 spot in Amazon's many categories, and it's looking like it's much more valuable than the famous "Buy Installs" industry for #1 spots in the App Store. I don't believe there is much incentive on Amazon's part to crack down on fake reviews, since they are selling products either way. [0] http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Pepper-Mill-Set-Adjustable/dp/B00TQ8520K/ http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Pepper-Mill-Set-Adjustable/dp/B00...
- username223 11y ago
  It's kind of mind-blowing that "gaming the reviews of a dispenser for a spice worth less than $10/lb on a shopping site" is a paying thing.

profquail 11y ago

I was curious to read the reviews that'd been left but didn't have links, so: http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Them-Safely-Rick-Smith/dp/B017V4J0M6 http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Them-Safely-Rick-Smith/dp/B017... https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/killing-them-safely/id1053690244 https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/killing-them-safely/id1053...

Semiapies 11y ago

But how many reviews are from Taser, and how much are they affecting ratings? There are always bullshit reviews (and whole blogs making fun of them). Is this just a few execs being petulant little shits, or is this part of a significant, organized effort by Taser?

Yver 11y ago

Over the years, I saw the language in the Taser article on Wikipedia go from "less-lethal" to "less-than-lethal" (shortly) to "non-lethal" (current) when describing the weapon. In retrospect I wonder if the Taser company was involved in that change too.