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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 googl

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.

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.