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This sucks. I worked REALLY hard to become a top reviewer (ranked ~10,000th) so that I could get free and discounted stuff, and just these past few months, I've
by Hydraulix989 10y ago
This sucks. I worked REALLY hard to become a top reviewer (ranked ~10,000th) so that I could get free and discounted stuff, and just these past few months, I've finally gotten to the point where I get 1-3 offers per day now.
- BoorishBears 10y agoHow often do you give free products negative reviews?
- Hydraulix989 10y agoNot a whole lot, even before when I _was_ giving unbiased reviews. I found that many people "downvoted" my negative reviews as unhelpful (maybe they were friends of the seller?), despite the fact that they were critical, yet not inflammatory, reviews (and what most people would consider to be very helpful) -- -- Much like how some HN users downvote similarly-constructive posts that they disagree with.
- 1_listerine_pls 10y agoIncentivized reviews do skew the score distribution. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a reason to ban them.
- Hydraulix989 10y agoI agree. I didn't even include the "unbiased discount" footnote/disclaimer in my "unbiased" reviews because I didn't want it to hurt my own personal credibility as a reviewer. My partners-in-crime actually really appreciated that omission.
- rconti 10y agoI read this a few times and couldn't quite parse it. Are your unbiased reviews the ones for which you weren't offered the product (eg, paid full price)? Or are you saying even your discount/freebie reviews are unbiased? Who are your partners in crime? The sellers?
- BoorishBears 10y agoI read it as there was a time before he tried for top reviewer when his reviews were unbiased (meaning the free items were the unbiased), and the sellers were the partners in crime.
- BoorishBears 10y agoEdit: free items were /biased/ not unbiased
- vermontdevil 10y agoBut how do I know you really needed the product and use it in an everyday situation? That's the problem I have with these freebie reviews. I want to know if the product that I need works as advertised as told by people who actually need it and use it themselves. Not by people who just liked getting free stuff. Or do you actually pick what you actually need for free and thus are able to give a good review?
- clifanatic 10y agoI (not OP) am in the Vine program that they mention in the article. I admit that it puts me in sort of an odd position to be trying to write an unbiased review of something that I got for free, but I always do my best to mention in my review whether I feel like I would have paid the cost of the item, all other things being equal. For me, the most difficult part of the review is that we're on the hook to review the product within 30 days of receipt - in some cases, that's not enough time to really get a sense of how well the product holds up.
- rhizome 10y agoPersonally, what I'm looking for is a biased review by a person who bought the item intentionally.
- ghaff 10y agoI tend to not accept a review unit/book/etc. (for off-Amazon review) for something I wouldn't have considered buying anyway. I see zero appeal to getting stuff for the sake of it. That said, I've written reviews of items that I probably wouldn't have spent $200 (or whatever) on. But then, I often say in my review that it wouldn't really be worth $X to me.
- Hydraulix989 10y agoThere was a lot of junk I'd never use, so I just didn't accept the offers to begin with (countless charging cables and LED bulbs, for instance). If my friends or family needed something, and I had an offer for it, I would get it for them and let them review it for me.