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I've found that instead of looking for positive reviews I'll first search for negative reviews. Can't really trust the professional reviewers because they have

by briga 6y ago

I've found that instead of looking for positive reviews I'll first search for negative reviews. Can't really trust the professional reviewers because they have an incentive to bend the truth. But you also can't really trust casual reviewers because it's so easy to game the system. Sometimes I'll look at places like Reddit for product reviews but you can't even really trust that anymore because more and more companies have started to understand the value of viral marketing on social media. So it seems like the only thing you can really trust are the negative reviews.

breckenedge 6y ago
And you can’t really trust those either since companies will review competitor’s products negatively. These days I just ask coworkers and friends and family
- flanbiscuit 6y ago
  Yeah the whole system is gamed. This is my process: - check out the reviews that actually post pictures - read the 1-stars to see what happened. - Do a google search for "best X product" to see if product shows up there. Sift through the many many bullshit sites set up to make money from Amazon affiliate links. Sometimes a result sticks out that I feel like I can easily trust, like if I'm looking for hiking equipment and an REI links shows up. Even the NY Times has a whole product review section and has amazon affiliate links: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/ https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/ - Look for YouTube video reviews. I know a lot of those are free products provided to YouTubers so I take any positive reviews by them with a grain of salt. I just want to see the product in use. - Check out Reddit. Also take these with some scrutiny because Reddit has already been infiltrated by marketing companies willing to pay for fake reviews & upvotes - Check FakeSpot and ReviewMeta to see what they say - Analysis paralysis sets in. Are the good reviews fake? Are the bad reviews from competitors? Did the websites reviewing the products actually review it or just searched the top 10? - Walk away for a day or 2 - Go back to the product, and decide to gamble and buy one of the top results in Amazon. It's so annoying
  - PoignardAzur 6y ago
    > Check out Reddit. Also take these with some scrutiny because Reddit has already been infiltrated by marketing companies willing to pay for fake reviews & upvotes Yup. An interesting case study for me was trying to find a reliable modafinil provider. It's illegal in most western countries but won't actually get you thrown in jail, so you can't use the usual marketplaces, but people still feel comfortable recommending it on reddit. The end result is that any possible subreddit you can find dedicated to provider recommendations is filled with paid recommendations that people made in exchange for discounts. The only subreddits that have serious non-shill discussions are the ones that ban recommendations.

by briga 6y ago

breckenedge 6y ago

And you can’t really trust those either since companies will review competitor’s products negatively. These days I just ask coworkers and friends and family

flanbiscuit 6y ago
Yeah the whole system is gamed. This is my process: - check out the reviews that actually post pictures - read the 1-stars to see what happened. - Do a google search for "best X product" to see if product shows up there. Sift through the many many bullshit sites set up to make money from Amazon affiliate links. Sometimes a result sticks out that I feel like I can easily trust, like if I'm looking for hiking equipment and an REI links shows up. Even the NY Times has a whole product review section and has amazon affiliate links: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/ https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/ - Look for YouTube video reviews. I know a lot of those are free products provided to YouTubers so I take any positive reviews by them with a grain of salt. I just want to see the product in use. - Check out Reddit. Also take these with some scrutiny because Reddit has already been infiltrated by marketing companies willing to pay for fake reviews & upvotes - Check FakeSpot and ReviewMeta to see what they say - Analysis paralysis sets in. Are the good reviews fake? Are the bad reviews from competitors? Did the websites reviewing the products actually review it or just searched the top 10? - Walk away for a day or 2 - Go back to the product, and decide to gamble and buy one of the top results in Amazon. It's so annoying
- PoignardAzur 6y ago
  > Check out Reddit. Also take these with some scrutiny because Reddit has already been infiltrated by marketing companies willing to pay for fake reviews & upvotes Yup. An interesting case study for me was trying to find a reliable modafinil provider. It's illegal in most western countries but won't actually get you thrown in jail, so you can't use the usual marketplaces, but people still feel comfortable recommending it on reddit. The end result is that any possible subreddit you can find dedicated to provider recommendations is filled with paid recommendations that people made in exchange for discounts. The only subreddits that have serious non-shill discussions are the ones that ban recommendations.