7 ms·

My heart breaks for the Wirecutters of the world affected by this.

by encoderer 10y ago

csmajorfive 10y ago
Me too. Great, unbiased reviews are going to be even harder to come by now.
- moron4hire 10y ago
  How ever did we get reviews before Amazon affiliate programs?
  - Veen 10y ago
    News organizations and magazine publishers paid for them with advertising and subscription revenue.
  - makmanalp 10y ago
    The implication here was that we used to have good reviews before this. I disagree. I'd gladly dump all of cnet and engadget down the drain for half of The Wirecutter. Their win was realizing that I don't give a shit about reading about the latest tech news on new product X. I just need an in-depth review for each product category that is done by an expert, exposes the best products I can get for each part of the tradeoff spectrum, and is kept up to date as time passes by. That's all I need. So many times I've done my own research for days and came up with the same 2-3 results that they have, so I don't even bother anymore. I'll be very sad if The Wirecutter dies.
    - jldugger 10y ago
      We already had a publication for that called Consumer Reports. CR goes the extra mile of not running ads in the first place. Wirecutter simply tried to eat their cake and have it too, and that cake just got a lot slimmer.
      - _delirium 10y ago
        The UK has something like that as well, Which (which.co.uk). Costs about £10/mo and is entirely subscriber-funded.
      - makmanalp 10y ago
        Nope nope nope. Consumer reports just doesn't get it. They're great from the consumer advocacy perspective, but again they fill their site with stuff I don't care about. The pleasure of the wirecutter is that the decisions are made. I look for their top choice of wifi routers, then I read about why. In the off chance I disagree, I read the other entries. It explains by what aspects each other product is better or worse than their pick. Perhaps I want a cheaper one? A specific brand? More range? Done in under ten minutes. I realize everyone is different, but what I love about the Wirecutter is that I don't want to waste my free time reading expert product reviews and comparing specs, and CR encourages exactly that. Any minor benefit from having that information exposed really gets drowned out by my frustration.
        jsmeaton 10y ago
        I'd never heard of wirecutter before. Every 6-12 months I (or a family member) will want to make some kind of largeish purchase, and I go hunting for reviews and try to figure it out on my own. I think this site is going to save me a lot of time and headaches.
  - gpawl 10y ago
    http://www.consumerreports.org http://www.consumerreports.org
    - ghaff 10y ago
      Consumer Reports is really a different sweet spot though. I haven't subscribed for a long time and use them very little but I was always a lot less impressed with them for many types of consumer electronics than I was for large household appliances or cars.
    - eli 10y ago
      CR is great but there are whole categories of products they do not address at all. Also, since they have no ads, it's a relatively expensive subscription.
- UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
  Unbiased. Only if the item is sold by Amazon (or a competitor with commission), otherwise the item won't be reviewed or discussed at all.
  - jonknee 10y ago
    Well to be fair they also sell an immense amount of products, it's not like they are limited to in-house brands. You could spend many lifetimes reviewing just one product category on Amazon.
  - eli 10y ago
    That's provably false since Wirecutter sometimes links to other sites with (AFAIK) no commission for the top product.
    - UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
      If it is provably false then prove it. I just looked at Wirecutter and all I see are commission based sites for top products, I am at ten pages and counting.
      - eli 10y ago
        I'm on my phone, but unless I'm mistaken: http://m.thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-windows-ultrabook/ http://m.thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-windows-ultraboo... http://m.thewirecutter.com/reviews/which-macbook-should-i-buy/ http://m.thewirecutter.com/reviews/which-macbook-should-i-bu...
        UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
        Both Apple and Dell are affiliate program links.
        monkmartinez 10y ago
        You know what? This dude has had like 40 laptops or something... he is probably the least qualified person to tell me what to buy. I don't want someone who hasn't had to deal with the computer for the long haul. I mean, shit... I can go to Bestbuy and set-up a camera and do the same shit review. I can form an opinion based on 10 minutes with the laptop, then copypasta the other reviews of that particular piece and move on to the next one. Then 6 months from now after I've reviewed dozens of different laptops for the same amount of bullshit time, do it again with the old reviews... rinse, repeat. No day to day needed... just go over it once for a few hours, make some bullshit recommendation, then call it a day. Bullshit.
- rjuyal 10y ago
  Not unbiased. I have seen products which are not superior quality but are ranked as #1. Generally best are third or below ranked products.
  - monkmartinez 10y ago
    You are right... these rankings are as manipulated as the S&P with HFT. The FBA'ers use clever marketing, pay per click and paid reviews to get ranked higher. Has ZERO to do with quality.
  - elsewhen 10y ago
    if by "ranked as #1" you mean on amazon's pages, then that is unrelated to this change. this change is for amazon affiliates (or using amazon's terminology, 'associates') who promote or review products on third-party websites.
whafro 10y ago
Alternatively, great luck and timing for the Wirecutter team to sell to NYTimes before this happened. For consumers, it's more likely heartbreaking, as we'll all likely have a tougher time getting high-quality review content like what The Wirecutter pushes out.
- monkmartinez 10y ago
  Do you really need someone telling you why it is a good product to buy? If you buy something from Amazon and it doesn't work in the way you want it to, return it. Watching reviews is a waste of time.
  - graeme 10y ago
    >If you buy something from Amazon and it doesn't work in the way you want it to, return it. For a lot of categories, you might end up with an adequate product and miss out on an amazing one. I find reviews very quickly let me find the best product for my needs in that category. Also, returns are costly. For each one, I have to: 1. Assess the product 2. Go to the amazon order page. Click return. 3. Print the return form 4. Repackage the item. Tape the return form to it. 5. Go to the post office, wait in line, send it. 6. Order a new item, open it, and test it. 5-10 minutes of review reading can save all of that effort. It's also less wasteful for the economy: needlessly upping your return volume causes negative externalities for everyone else.
    - monkmartinez 10y ago
      Wow.. and what if the reviewer sucks? That happens. What if you get a lemon? That happens. What happens if the reviewer is being paid? That happens. Returning on Amazon is one of the easiest things to do on the planet. What amazing products are you going to miss out on? Most of the stuff on Amazon is just re-branded FBA shit. Most of each category of consumer products come from the same factories in China. Go to Alibaba and source some stuff... It's what all the FBA'ers do.
      - 10y ago
hullo 10y ago
I would be surprised if the largest affiliates don't have the ability to negotiate fees beyond what is included in the public schedule...
criddell 10y ago
That's the first thing I thought of. Did Bezos do this to hurt the NYT and thus help The Washington Post?

My heart breaks for the Wirecutters of the world affected by this.

csmajorfive 10y ago

Me too. Great, unbiased reviews are going to be even harder to come by now.

moron4hire 10y ago
How ever did we get reviews before Amazon affiliate programs?
- Veen 10y ago
  News organizations and magazine publishers paid for them with advertising and subscription revenue.
- makmanalp 10y ago
  The implication here was that we used to have good reviews before this. I disagree. I'd gladly dump all of cnet and engadget down the drain for half of The Wirecutter. Their win was realizing that I don't give a shit about reading about the latest tech news on new product X. I just need an in-depth review for each product category that is done by an expert, exposes the best products I can get for each part of the tradeoff spectrum, and is kept up to date as time passes by. That's all I need. So many times I've done my own research for days and came up with the same 2-3 results that they have, so I don't even bother anymore. I'll be very sad if The Wirecutter dies.
  - jldugger 10y ago
    We already had a publication for that called Consumer Reports. CR goes the extra mile of not running ads in the first place. Wirecutter simply tried to eat their cake and have it too, and that cake just got a lot slimmer.
    - _delirium 10y ago
      The UK has something like that as well, Which (which.co.uk). Costs about £10/mo and is entirely subscriber-funded.
    - makmanalp 10y ago
      Nope nope nope. Consumer reports just doesn't get it. They're great from the consumer advocacy perspective, but again they fill their site with stuff I don't care about. The pleasure of the wirecutter is that the decisions are made. I look for their top choice of wifi routers, then I read about why. In the off chance I disagree, I read the other entries. It explains by what aspects each other product is better or worse than their pick. Perhaps I want a cheaper one? A specific brand? More range? Done in under ten minutes. I realize everyone is different, but what I love about the Wirecutter is that I don't want to waste my free time reading expert product reviews and comparing specs, and CR encourages exactly that. Any minor benefit from having that information exposed really gets drowned out by my frustration.
      - jsmeaton 10y ago
        I'd never heard of wirecutter before. Every 6-12 months I (or a family member) will want to make some kind of largeish purchase, and I go hunting for reviews and try to figure it out on my own. I think this site is going to save me a lot of time and headaches.
- gpawl 10y ago
  http://www.consumerreports.org http://www.consumerreports.org
  - ghaff 10y ago
    Consumer Reports is really a different sweet spot though. I haven't subscribed for a long time and use them very little but I was always a lot less impressed with them for many types of consumer electronics than I was for large household appliances or cars.
  - eli 10y ago
    CR is great but there are whole categories of products they do not address at all. Also, since they have no ads, it's a relatively expensive subscription.
UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
Unbiased. Only if the item is sold by Amazon (or a competitor with commission), otherwise the item won't be reviewed or discussed at all.
- jonknee 10y ago
  Well to be fair they also sell an immense amount of products, it's not like they are limited to in-house brands. You could spend many lifetimes reviewing just one product category on Amazon.
- eli 10y ago
  That's provably false since Wirecutter sometimes links to other sites with (AFAIK) no commission for the top product.
  - UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
    If it is provably false then prove it. I just looked at Wirecutter and all I see are commission based sites for top products, I am at ten pages and counting.
    - eli 10y ago
      I'm on my phone, but unless I'm mistaken: http://m.thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-windows-ultrabook/ http://m.thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-windows-ultraboo... http://m.thewirecutter.com/reviews/which-macbook-should-i-buy/ http://m.thewirecutter.com/reviews/which-macbook-should-i-bu...
      - UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
        Both Apple and Dell are affiliate program links.
      - monkmartinez 10y ago
        You know what? This dude has had like 40 laptops or something... he is probably the least qualified person to tell me what to buy. I don't want someone who hasn't had to deal with the computer for the long haul. I mean, shit... I can go to Bestbuy and set-up a camera and do the same shit review. I can form an opinion based on 10 minutes with the laptop, then copypasta the other reviews of that particular piece and move on to the next one. Then 6 months from now after I've reviewed dozens of different laptops for the same amount of bullshit time, do it again with the old reviews... rinse, repeat. No day to day needed... just go over it once for a few hours, make some bullshit recommendation, then call it a day. Bullshit.
rjuyal 10y ago
Not unbiased. I have seen products which are not superior quality but are ranked as #1. Generally best are third or below ranked products.
- monkmartinez 10y ago
  You are right... these rankings are as manipulated as the S&P with HFT. The FBA'ers use clever marketing, pay per click and paid reviews to get ranked higher. Has ZERO to do with quality.
- elsewhen 10y ago
  if by "ranked as #1" you mean on amazon's pages, then that is unrelated to this change. this change is for amazon affiliates (or using amazon's terminology, 'associates') who promote or review products on third-party websites.

whafro 10y ago

Alternatively, great luck and timing for the Wirecutter team to sell to NYTimes before this happened. For consumers, it's more likely heartbreaking, as we'll all likely have a tougher time getting high-quality review content like what The Wirecutter pushes out.

monkmartinez 10y ago
Do you really need someone telling you why it is a good product to buy? If you buy something from Amazon and it doesn't work in the way you want it to, return it. Watching reviews is a waste of time.
- graeme 10y ago
  >If you buy something from Amazon and it doesn't work in the way you want it to, return it. For a lot of categories, you might end up with an adequate product and miss out on an amazing one. I find reviews very quickly let me find the best product for my needs in that category. Also, returns are costly. For each one, I have to: 1. Assess the product 2. Go to the amazon order page. Click return. 3. Print the return form 4. Repackage the item. Tape the return form to it. 5. Go to the post office, wait in line, send it. 6. Order a new item, open it, and test it. 5-10 minutes of review reading can save all of that effort. It's also less wasteful for the economy: needlessly upping your return volume causes negative externalities for everyone else.
  - monkmartinez 10y ago
    Wow.. and what if the reviewer sucks? That happens. What if you get a lemon? That happens. What happens if the reviewer is being paid? That happens. Returning on Amazon is one of the easiest things to do on the planet. What amazing products are you going to miss out on? Most of the stuff on Amazon is just re-branded FBA shit. Most of each category of consumer products come from the same factories in China. Go to Alibaba and source some stuff... It's what all the FBA'ers do.
    - 10y ago

hullo 10y ago

I would be surprised if the largest affiliates don't have the ability to negotiate fees beyond what is included in the public schedule...

criddell 10y ago

That's the first thing I thought of. Did Bezos do this to hurt the NYT and thus help The Washington Post?