2 ms·

I too like their transparency, but for the opposite reason: I find review bombings are the only time reviews are actually useful. Reviews are a dime a dozen, p

I too like their transparency, but for the opposite reason: I find review bombings are the only time reviews are actually useful. Reviews are a dime a dozen, positive or negative; they normally aren't useful for judging whether a product is worth buying. Review bombings on the other hand only happen when something happened to trigger the internet's sweaty wrath, and that is very useful as a unit of measure. Any particular review in the bombing is worthless like any other review, but the collective act of review bombing is very valuable information.

Xiol32 3y ago
Valuable if you want to find people bedwedding over LGBT representation or empowered women, sure.
- Dalewyn 3y ago
  It's a great way to weed out woke nonsense, yes. It's also great to weed out draconian DRMs and EULAs, stealthy price hikes immediately prior to a sale, shitty developer behaviour in general, and other such factors I would not want to spend my money on. Reviews by themselves don't tell me anything important, especially in times of peace. Review bombings on the other hand tell me there is or was a problem I might want to look into before I open my wallet, and that's very valuable information for making informed purchases.
  - piperswe 3y ago
    "woke nonsense" would you mind qualifying that? I'm not familiar with what "woke" actually means
    - Silphendio 3y ago
      I also don't know what woke means, but I recall that Superhot VR got review-bombed after an "update" removed some content because it contained self-harm.
    - greenhexagon 3y ago
      "Woke" started as a term used by young American social progressives as a reference to becoming aware of things which they had previously been unaware. Sort of a "Neo waking up from being in the Matrix" type of waking from a dream, delusion or false reality. This could cover almost any social, economic or political issue. Generally though it was used around issues related to race, gender or sexuality. People would sometimes use the phrase "Stay Woke" as a shorthand for something like "Stay aware of racial or gender disparities and work to counter them". The term was subsequently used in a derisive, pejorative or mocking manner by people who perceived the first group (the "woke" people) to be factually incorrect or excessive in their demands. People using a phrase like "woke nonsense" are expressing disdain for inserting race/gender/sexuality issues where they don't belong or being frustrated by too-extreme measures being advocated to address such issues. There's my attempt at writing a very neutral etymology of the usage of the term.
- zaphirplane 3y ago
  Most of the top 10 sci-fi fantasy novels have a female mc
satvikpendem 3y ago
How is that a useful metric at all? Usually it means that there is some controversy, with no value judgement on said controversy actually implied, if you are unfamiliar with that controversy. So unless you research every review bomb causing controversy, it's better to just ignore them.
- Dalewyn 3y ago
  I do look into what the controversy that triggered the review bombing is. If it's a problem that I have issue with, I can think twice about hitting that big, green Purchase button. But I wouldn't have that chance without the review bombing telling me there's something I might want to check first. Developers and publishers are very good (and incentivized) at hiding the problems review bombings can otherwise reveal.

Xiol32 3y ago

Valuable if you want to find people bedwedding over LGBT representation or empowered women, sure.

Dalewyn 3y ago
It's a great way to weed out woke nonsense, yes. It's also great to weed out draconian DRMs and EULAs, stealthy price hikes immediately prior to a sale, shitty developer behaviour in general, and other such factors I would not want to spend my money on. Reviews by themselves don't tell me anything important, especially in times of peace. Review bombings on the other hand tell me there is or was a problem I might want to look into before I open my wallet, and that's very valuable information for making informed purchases.
- piperswe 3y ago
  "woke nonsense" would you mind qualifying that? I'm not familiar with what "woke" actually means
  - Silphendio 3y ago
    I also don't know what woke means, but I recall that Superhot VR got review-bombed after an "update" removed some content because it contained self-harm.
  - greenhexagon 3y ago
    "Woke" started as a term used by young American social progressives as a reference to becoming aware of things which they had previously been unaware. Sort of a "Neo waking up from being in the Matrix" type of waking from a dream, delusion or false reality. This could cover almost any social, economic or political issue. Generally though it was used around issues related to race, gender or sexuality. People would sometimes use the phrase "Stay Woke" as a shorthand for something like "Stay aware of racial or gender disparities and work to counter them". The term was subsequently used in a derisive, pejorative or mocking manner by people who perceived the first group (the "woke" people) to be factually incorrect or excessive in their demands. People using a phrase like "woke nonsense" are expressing disdain for inserting race/gender/sexuality issues where they don't belong or being frustrated by too-extreme measures being advocated to address such issues. There's my attempt at writing a very neutral etymology of the usage of the term.
zaphirplane 3y ago
Most of the top 10 sci-fi fantasy novels have a female mc

satvikpendem 3y ago

How is that a useful metric at all? Usually it means that there is some controversy, with no value judgement on said controversy actually implied, if you are unfamiliar with that controversy. So unless you research every review bomb causing controversy, it's better to just ignore them.

Dalewyn 3y ago
I do look into what the controversy that triggered the review bombing is. If it's a problem that I have issue with, I can think twice about hitting that big, green Purchase button. But I wouldn't have that chance without the review bombing telling me there's something I might want to check first. Developers and publishers are very good (and incentivized) at hiding the problems review bombings can otherwise reveal.