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I'm starting to think that the solution is not to reduce fake reviews, but to increase verified accounts who give reviews. I think in increasing the number of

I'm starting to think that the solution is not to reduce fake reviews, but to increase verified accounts who give reviews. I think in increasing the number of reviews from verified accounts (this account verified to be connected with human of name X), the rest of the anonymous or pseudonymous reviews may be looked at with more scrutiny. Right now, let's assume that the default for social networks and other places of interaction on the internet is something like 10% verified accounts and 90% unverified. We know that within that 90% unverified, there are many real humans with their real names. So we spend a lot of effort to parse that 90% to find the real humans, the ones pretending to be others, the bots, the anonymous ones, and others. Companies are using ML, individuals like me just guess and try to only accept people that I've met in person and avoid platforms where bots seem to hang. However, with sites like Amazon, I have to hope that Amazon has filtered out the reviews from the fake accounts. Yes, there will be fake reviews from verified accounts, and that seems like another issue, and maybe less prevalent, I'm not sure. If the percentage of verified accounts flips, from 10% verified / 90% unverified to 90% verified / 10% unverified, I think many of these fake reviews filter themselves out. We would trust that this specific person is saying this, and still leave room for pseudonyms and anonymity, but be more clear that one is using such measures to hide their identity. How do you think this would impact fake reviews on Amazon? What secondary impacts do you see more verified accounts on Amazon and on other platforms having on discourse? I hope this post wasn't too long, again, I'm new to HN and hope I'm staying within bounds.

ballenf 8y ago
I don't think it addresses the core issue and creates additional ones. There are people who have valuable opinions who won't post them if connected back to them. There are people who won't bother getting verified who would otherwise leave honest reviews. The bad players will find a way to get verified and now you're worse off than before (fewer legit reviews plus bad ones with a fraudulent stamp of approval). Whatever the solution you have to take into account that bad players have a higher incentive to pass your test / jump through hoops than legitimate people do.
- jimkleiber 8y ago
  I hear you on that. I think it may work better for other types of interactions but not this one on Amazon reviews, as you've said, there's probably a stronger incentive for people who want to game the system to jump through the hoops compared to ones who don't.
solotronics 8y ago
I think this would help to solve some of the quality and fake goods issues on Amazon. What it can't solve is a dishonorable seller switching out a good product for an inferior one. We should have 'verified sellers' as well tied to a real name.
bostik 8y ago
Even for verified purchases, Amazon's over-eager review beggary is just bonkers. You buy something, and regardless of what it is, you get automated requests to review the purchase. Sometimes before the item has arrived. Practically always well before you have managed to establish whether the purchase was any good or not. This is why I ignore pretty much every single please-review-me prod from Amazon and their retailers. Send me a request to review before I could have had proper time to evaluate the purchase in practice, and you get bucketed with other entitled f--kwits. You are also likely to lose my future business. I believe Amazon could improve the S/N ratio of their reviews if they actually considered how long it takes to test out any of their purchases.
- cwkoss 8y ago
  There are facebook groups where Amazon sellers will post an item. Then you purchase it and write a review, and seller will send paypal or an amazon gift card for the price of the item and maybe a few more bucks. Hiring a few interns to sign up for all of these facebook group and track who is participating would go a long way. Doesn't seem like Amazon really cares much.
  - bigger_cheese 8y ago
    A few years ago during a business trip I ate at a relatively upscale restaurant with work colleagues the waitress offered our table a discount if we'd all leave positive reviews online. Seemed very dishonest to me.
nitwit005 8y ago
Amazon and some of the other firms have enough data to know a subset of their users are real people without any additional effort. I have years of order history, with changing credit cards and addresses tied to my name, plus books and movie viewing over a long period. It'd never be worth the effort to fake that.

ballenf 8y ago

I don't think it addresses the core issue and creates additional ones. There are people who have valuable opinions who won't post them if connected back to them. There are people who won't bother getting verified who would otherwise leave honest reviews. The bad players will find a way to get verified and now you're worse off than before (fewer legit reviews plus bad ones with a fraudulent stamp of approval). Whatever the solution you have to take into account that bad players have a higher incentive to pass your test / jump through hoops than legitimate people do.

jimkleiber 8y ago
I hear you on that. I think it may work better for other types of interactions but not this one on Amazon reviews, as you've said, there's probably a stronger incentive for people who want to game the system to jump through the hoops compared to ones who don't.

solotronics 8y ago

I think this would help to solve some of the quality and fake goods issues on Amazon. What it can't solve is a dishonorable seller switching out a good product for an inferior one. We should have 'verified sellers' as well tied to a real name.

bostik 8y ago

Even for verified purchases, Amazon's over-eager review beggary is just bonkers. You buy something, and regardless of what it is, you get automated requests to review the purchase. Sometimes before the item has arrived. Practically always well before you have managed to establish whether the purchase was any good or not. This is why I ignore pretty much every single please-review-me prod from Amazon and their retailers. Send me a request to review before I could have had proper time to evaluate the purchase in practice, and you get bucketed with other entitled f--kwits. You are also likely to lose my future business. I believe Amazon could improve the S/N ratio of their reviews if they actually considered how long it takes to test out any of their purchases.

cwkoss 8y ago
There are facebook groups where Amazon sellers will post an item. Then you purchase it and write a review, and seller will send paypal or an amazon gift card for the price of the item and maybe a few more bucks. Hiring a few interns to sign up for all of these facebook group and track who is participating would go a long way. Doesn't seem like Amazon really cares much.
- bigger_cheese 8y ago
  A few years ago during a business trip I ate at a relatively upscale restaurant with work colleagues the waitress offered our table a discount if we'd all leave positive reviews online. Seemed very dishonest to me.

nitwit005 8y ago

Amazon and some of the other firms have enough data to know a subset of their users are real people without any additional effort. I have years of order history, with changing credit cards and addresses tied to my name, plus books and movie viewing over a long period. It'd never be worth the effort to fake that.