13 ms·

I had a friend who was doing this. The way it worked is there was a secret FB group where items would be posted, and if you were up for reviewing the item you'd

I had a friend who was doing this. The way it worked is there was a secret FB group where items would be posted, and if you were up for reviewing the item you'd message the group coordinator who would send you money to buy it. You'd then buy and review the item. Initially you would only be reviewing small items ($5-$10), but as you gained more trust you could get more expensive items (not sure what the limit was). Some items even came with an additional $20 for doing a review. I cautioned them that what they were doing was a good way to get their Amazon account suspected (I didn't even think about their FB account) and they eventually did stop. Most of what they accumulated was crap, but there were a hand full of nice items - though thinking about it now, the only thing they got that I thought was cool was a decorative snail statue.

NullPrefix 6y ago
>I cautioned them [...] and they eventually did stop They did stop letting you know about it
- reaperducer 6y ago
  Chances are this person knows his friend and how that friend acts a lot better than some rando on the internet does.
  - slig 6y ago
    Surely a person that posts fake reviews online in exchange of money and/or goods wouldn't lie.
    - loceng 6y ago
      It's why public/published reviews/testimonials for general public consumption are bunk. Lower quality, crappier or knockoff product, will have higher profit margin to afford marketing/advertising and other tactics like fake reviews. Word of mouth reviews from your trusted tribe leaders, go-to people you come to learn to trust (vs. random internet stranger), slows down processes but inherently has quality-trust built into the process. I am a fan of a lot of what Tesla and Elon has done, not a fan of others parts of the whole, however what I think I value the most so far is that Tesla doesn't advertise: the attention they've gained has arguably been deserved and not bought. This is a very powerful and important mechanism that society hasn't understood yet, and needs a Facebook->The Social Dilemma moment to bring to light of the cascading consequences of the Ad industrial complex - of people being able to cheaply buy attention they haven't earned nor deserve (for products and services). En mass this industrial complex is funnelling money into feeding this low quality, bad actor tactic system - and away from honest, high-quality, deserving individuals, organizations/companies, and systems. With the correct policy we can quickly knock out likely 4 or even 5 birds with a single stone; more likely it's 10 policies fix/shift 3x the systems that need fixing from their foundation. UBI, a share/dividend from just some of the productivity of the society paid back to the largest cog in the wheel of capitalism, will be one such policy - that then applied with say 9 other policies and/or systemic changes - will then each compound with the others giving a 100x improvement.
    - thatguy0900 6y ago
      You still need incentive to lie, why would you lie to a friend about this? It's not like they're going to report you
      - floatingatoll 6y ago
        Shame and revenue are powerful motivators.
        thatguy0900 6y ago
        I very much doubt shame was involved. At least I don't think I know anyone who would feel shame over doing this
        floatingatoll 6y ago
        I have prior experience with a friend deciding to get into shady Internet ripoff stuff. They definitely were ashamed to discuss it with me and ended up trying to lie about it so they wouldn’t lose me as a friend. I don’t contradict that some would be unashamed, but I encourage giving more credence to the human capacity for cognitive dissonance.
      - broberts01 6y ago
        I disagree. Some people lie just for the fun of it.
        dkersten 6y ago
        And some people tell the truth. Just because some people do it, doesn't necessarily mean that its likely in this case.
      - inetknght 6y ago
        If your friend complains about something you talk about then you stop talking about it. If your friend complains about something they saw you do then you stop doing that in front of your friend. If you're getting money to do something why would you stop just because a friend complains? This is ultimately an ethical question. Not everyone has the same ethics.

NullPrefix 6y ago

>I cautioned them [...] and they eventually did stop They did stop letting you know about it

reaperducer 6y ago
Chances are this person knows his friend and how that friend acts a lot better than some rando on the internet does.
- slig 6y ago
  Surely a person that posts fake reviews online in exchange of money and/or goods wouldn't lie.
  - loceng 6y ago
    It's why public/published reviews/testimonials for general public consumption are bunk. Lower quality, crappier or knockoff product, will have higher profit margin to afford marketing/advertising and other tactics like fake reviews. Word of mouth reviews from your trusted tribe leaders, go-to people you come to learn to trust (vs. random internet stranger), slows down processes but inherently has quality-trust built into the process. I am a fan of a lot of what Tesla and Elon has done, not a fan of others parts of the whole, however what I think I value the most so far is that Tesla doesn't advertise: the attention they've gained has arguably been deserved and not bought. This is a very powerful and important mechanism that society hasn't understood yet, and needs a Facebook->The Social Dilemma moment to bring to light of the cascading consequences of the Ad industrial complex - of people being able to cheaply buy attention they haven't earned nor deserve (for products and services). En mass this industrial complex is funnelling money into feeding this low quality, bad actor tactic system - and away from honest, high-quality, deserving individuals, organizations/companies, and systems. With the correct policy we can quickly knock out likely 4 or even 5 birds with a single stone; more likely it's 10 policies fix/shift 3x the systems that need fixing from their foundation. UBI, a share/dividend from just some of the productivity of the society paid back to the largest cog in the wheel of capitalism, will be one such policy - that then applied with say 9 other policies and/or systemic changes - will then each compound with the others giving a 100x improvement.
  - thatguy0900 6y ago
    You still need incentive to lie, why would you lie to a friend about this? It's not like they're going to report you
    - floatingatoll 6y ago
      Shame and revenue are powerful motivators.
      - thatguy0900 6y ago
        I very much doubt shame was involved. At least I don't think I know anyone who would feel shame over doing this
        floatingatoll 6y ago
        I have prior experience with a friend deciding to get into shady Internet ripoff stuff. They definitely were ashamed to discuss it with me and ended up trying to lie about it so they wouldn’t lose me as a friend. I don’t contradict that some would be unashamed, but I encourage giving more credence to the human capacity for cognitive dissonance.
    - broberts01 6y ago
      I disagree. Some people lie just for the fun of it.
      - dkersten 6y ago
        And some people tell the truth. Just because some people do it, doesn't necessarily mean that its likely in this case.
    - inetknght 6y ago
      If your friend complains about something you talk about then you stop talking about it. If your friend complains about something they saw you do then you stop doing that in front of your friend. If you're getting money to do something why would you stop just because a friend complains? This is ultimately an ethical question. Not everyone has the same ethics.