6 ms·

Maybe some kind of circle of trust? I would trust reviews written by my contacts more than internet randos. People they know a little less, and beyond that not

by synu 4y ago

Maybe some kind of circle of trust? I would trust reviews written by my contacts more than internet randos. People they know a little less, and beyond that not really at all. I think the problem is that if you make it into a business it messes up all the incentives, but if you don't make it a business there isn't an incentive to put time and effort in to combat spam, lawsuits, and so on. Maybe a big open source undertaking, like Wikipedia but with reviews?

marcinzm 4y ago
In a way you already get that by posting on social media or sending a group chat of "anyone know a good X around Y" and then seeing the results. Probably a better chance someone will respond to you directly than leave a random review somewhere.
thr0wawayf00 4y ago
> Maybe a big open source undertaking, like Wikipedia but with reviews? Wikipedia is certainly not immune from manipulation. A friend of mine worked for a firm that edited Wikipedia pages for a fee and typically catered towards the ultra-wealthy and politicians.
justin_oaks 4y ago
I've always thought "web of trust" this is the best way forward for reviews. It's using trust that you already have, and it allows you to give feedback to people who are giving incorrect reviews, e.g. "Steve, you rated this thing 5-stars but it totally sucks. What gives?" I'm genuinely surprised that Facebook hasn't picked up the idea of allowing user-submitted reviews of products, services, places, organizations, etc. Then you could search your friends, or friends-of-friends, for reviews. For Facebook this would be a wealth of information because it indicates which products you actually own and whether you like them. How is that not a huge wealth of information for an advertiser? It'd be extra good if we could take Facebook out of the equation, but the social graph there is probably the largest currently in existence.
- Nextgrid 4y ago
  Maybe the reason Facebook doesn't want to get into this space is because an ecosystem of trusted reviews would actually be a major problem for their customers (aka advertisers). It wouldn't be good for an ad platform to show an ad for something and then show the prospective customer the debunking of said ad. Facebook makes their money on the market being less efficient. If the market was super efficient and everyone bought what they wanted and was satisfied with it there would be a lot less need for advertising.
  - justin_oaks 4y ago
    Excellent point. That thought never crossed my mind. My desire for web-of-trust reviews to exist made it harder for me to think as a ruthlessly profit driven company thinks.
kionce 4y ago
I think Reddit works quite well as an effective review site for products from certain brands, and in most of the brand subs maintained by independent mods, you do get a wide spectrum of views. Spam is automatically taken care for you too (if you ignore the non-review posts).

by synu 4y ago

marcinzm 4y ago

In a way you already get that by posting on social media or sending a group chat of "anyone know a good X around Y" and then seeing the results. Probably a better chance someone will respond to you directly than leave a random review somewhere.

thr0wawayf00 4y ago

> Maybe a big open source undertaking, like Wikipedia but with reviews? Wikipedia is certainly not immune from manipulation. A friend of mine worked for a firm that edited Wikipedia pages for a fee and typically catered towards the ultra-wealthy and politicians.

justin_oaks 4y ago

I've always thought "web of trust" this is the best way forward for reviews. It's using trust that you already have, and it allows you to give feedback to people who are giving incorrect reviews, e.g. "Steve, you rated this thing 5-stars but it totally sucks. What gives?" I'm genuinely surprised that Facebook hasn't picked up the idea of allowing user-submitted reviews of products, services, places, organizations, etc. Then you could search your friends, or friends-of-friends, for reviews. For Facebook this would be a wealth of information because it indicates which products you actually own and whether you like them. How is that not a huge wealth of information for an advertiser? It'd be extra good if we could take Facebook out of the equation, but the social graph there is probably the largest currently in existence.

Nextgrid 4y ago
Maybe the reason Facebook doesn't want to get into this space is because an ecosystem of trusted reviews would actually be a major problem for their customers (aka advertisers). It wouldn't be good for an ad platform to show an ad for something and then show the prospective customer the debunking of said ad. Facebook makes their money on the market being less efficient. If the market was super efficient and everyone bought what they wanted and was satisfied with it there would be a lot less need for advertising.
- justin_oaks 4y ago
  Excellent point. That thought never crossed my mind. My desire for web-of-trust reviews to exist made it harder for me to think as a ruthlessly profit driven company thinks.

kionce 4y ago

I think Reddit works quite well as an effective review site for products from certain brands, and in most of the brand subs maintained by independent mods, you do get a wide spectrum of views. Spam is automatically taken care for you too (if you ignore the non-review posts).