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Ask HN: Why do bad reviews get me black listed?
I started a small and niche media company that reviews tech products, late last year. I have no references to substances, politics, profanities, gender, bias, or anything of the sort to make me blacklisted and I don’t have a odd look as in a haircut that would get me in trouble. Most of the products I review get average to great reviews. Since the lockdown, I got even more attention but nothing major like the mainstream folks. One of the companies I work with sent in a product so I can review and I gave my honest opinion that it wasn’t a good product. Next thing you know, the company I deal with that deals with the company that makes the tech terminated our relationship. They also pulled ads from the site. I’m also not barred from attending their tech stuff at show floors but I won’t be given tickets. Is this common in media companies? Please note this is my first foray and have done everything I can to be company friendly
- db48x 6y agoA reviewer only gets free stuff if they review things positively. If you want to be able to give your honest opinion, you'll have to purchase the product yourself. Also, if you make a name for yourself as an honest reviewer then you'll probably have to start buying things through intermediaries. As an aside, this is why nobody should ever trust a review where the reviewer got any form of consideration from the product's creator.
- Mediatec 6y agoI don’t have a problem with buying the product myself but going as far as cutting access to interviews, events and news is a problem and placed me at a disadvantage compared to others in the field. What’s done is done, I understand. But I didn’t do anything wrong beyond that. That said, I’m new to this and was wondering if this is common practice. I never knew this was an actual thing
- db48x 6y agoYep, it's an actual thing. Interviews, events, and travel to those events are all a form of consideration given to as a reward to favored reviewers. They're all given to reviewers specifically to give them an advantage over reviewers who are actually honest. If you want your own advantages, you'll have to create them yourself. I recommend looking at the business model of Consumer Reports; they're successful and have a good reputation for honesty. They sell subscriptions rather than advertising, so that they aren't beholden to advertisers either.
- aurizon 6y agoWas this a private or a review you posted? They may have wanted a non public review if it was posted to your site and sort of deflated them. Often companies want tame kitties, not tigers that savage them?
- Mediatec 6y agoPublic, none of them are private. It wasn’t me tearing them apart but more of pointing the actual flaws and negatives in weight of the actual good stuff.
- aurizon 6y agoYes, I see. They wanted a compliant pet, not someone who exposes their lack of the proper R&D/testing/etc that goes into a newly created device, so they prune you from their tree - as others state:- buy test items and not be limited. Sadly, in medical gear they often have strong controls on the channel, so no Walmart purchases...
- sarcasmatwork 6y agoSounds like a company that does not stand behind their product. Honesty hurts, and people can take things personal. Maybe they did not like your delivery? Maybe no ROI? So many questions and variables TBD. Having no idea on the product, or company I can only speculate. I've reviewed LOTS of tech stuff in my past life, and have never had this exp.