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Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

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Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#171

Post by briandear »

radiorental wrote: post #118
_wmd wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very common among Googlers, and it bugs me because so many buy into it without further question, but in every case here, the reviewer also includes a detailed analysis describing how he came to his conclusion, rather than merely implying authority, and his reference to Google seems only to be in his capacity as working on a product team that might explicitly care about quality of accessories in a first genera…

I'm not complaining at all. I just find it interesting that at one organisation this 'reporting-out' is accepted if not proactively encouraged. A more old school organisation might come down hard on an employee. Depends on how busy the HR dept is I guess.

This might actually be part of his job. Why would HR have anything to say about it? Engineers do tech conferences as 'employee of XYZ,' how are product reviews any different, assuming they're in context?

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#172

Post by MichaelGG »

justin66 wrote: post #110
lhl wrote: post #59

I'm trying to think if there's anyone else that's doing something similar. I remember a while back I was really impressed by "NLee the Engineer"'s reviews[1] on lights/batteries. There's also a reviewer Sporty[2] who's done a fair number of reviews on SD cards. I took a quick look at Amazon's Hall of Fame/Top Reviewers, but sadly, it seems to prize volume vs quantified/focused cross-sectional reviews. [1] http://www.…

I bought a real piece of garbage battery charger as a result of one of that NLee guy's detailed reviews. Super unimpressed.

Perhaps the product changed? I often see reviews warning consumers that the new lot of product is deficient. Hell, the Pyrex brand did that, using the name on glass that can't actually hold up to temperature swings. (Lenovo's handing of ThinkPad might fall under this category too.)

Best thing to do is return the item; Amazon will value this far more than a negative review.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#173

Post by sevensor »

bduerst wrote: post #135
semiel wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When buying something online, I make a habit of reading a couple of the negative reviews. Sometimes they're, "I meant to buy a toaster, and misclicked on this television instead. Makes poor toast. 2/5." But sometimes they're more like, "It worked great for two years, and then became sentient and strangled my pet fish. 2/5" Rating distributions only tell you part of the story.

Someone did an article a while back about where you can use the reading comprehension level of reviewers to weight the Amazon star system.

Interesting --- I can pretty much look at a review from across the room and discriminate good from bad based on paragraph structure and the distribution of capital letters. If it looks like paragraphs you would see on the page of a book, it's probably well-reasoned enough to agree or disagree with. If it's ragged, with irregular capitalization, it rarely contains meaningful content. There's nothing there to evaluate.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#174

Post by Turbo_hedgehog »

antihero wrote: post #167
unics wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is good to know. I just bought my first Anker charger a month ago to be able to start my car if needed and to charge my phone. It came with really nice cables which really pleased me and I've been able to test the charger on a strangers truck that happened to be parked next to me in a parking lot. It did great btw. I just happened to stumble onto it on Amazon and thought I'd give them a shot.

Wait, you can use a mobile battery pack to start a fucking vehicle? Was that one of the ones with 12V DC out? How did it have enough current?

http://www.ianker.com/Jump-Starters/category-c92-s1

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#175

Post by JoshTriplett »

Related: has anyone written reviews of car USB ports, what devices they're capable of charging, and workarounds for charging higher-current devices? Many car USB ports have failure modes similar to those documented in these reviews, and they can't actually deliver high current for charging high-end smartphones, let alone tablets and laptops.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#176

Post by justin66 »

BorgHunter wrote: post #170
justin66 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a real piece of garbage battery charger as a result of one of that NLee guy's detailed reviews. Super unimpressed.

You haven't really qualified "piece of garbage", so I have no idea what actually happened, but I will note that charger manufacturers have pulled some bait-and-switch tactics in the past. I bought a battery charger based on an NLee review[0], and was very satisfied. A friend later asked for a battery charger recommendation, and I went back to that very review and found that they'd started selling a "revised" model un…

On mobile right now so I'm not feeling verbose. He noted serious problems in his subcomments after the initial review that strike me as quite serious, but didn't alter the item's rating accordingly. Whatever.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#177

Post by SwellJoe »

That's lovely, and exactly the sort of thing a good company would do.

So many companies have a very short list of "approved" compatible devices and get ornery if you use something else; often those approved devices are unavailable under that exact product name or number and so you're left guessing as you replace stuff in two, three, or four years, which is actually when you're likely to find yourself needing to replace components like this. The very worst companies (ahem, Apple) only validate their own devices for inter-operation with their products, and act as though using something else would be the pinnacle of recklessness. Some even threaten it'll void the warranty (which is actually not legal in many cases, but companies do it anyway).

The fact that someone from Google is doing this in a non-Google location for the benefit of the standard and of their customers is just really nice. Certainly, it is in their best interest to have their devices behave reliably and not be damaged by shoddy third party devices; and so Google does benefit. And, yet, many companies just don't see it that way and are willing to screw over their customers just to get that extra few bucks after the sale for accessories that could just as readily be provided by third parties (and often third parties offer more variety, making them more fit for purpose in some cases).

In short, I've lost a lot of trust for Google over the years (mostly as marketing and violation of privacy became their primary revenue sources), but this is a good thing, for the consumer, for the industry (standards are great! implementing standards poorly is bad!), and for Google.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#178

Post by MichaelGG »

mikestew wrote: post #158
ghaff wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more inclined to reserve 5 stars for really good films and books (even if they're not in the truly great category). For a cable though? If it does it's job, appears well-made, and is a good price, I'm not sure why I'd hit it in the ratings. I suppose I can leave lower numbers of stars in a quixotic quest against review inflation but doesn't seem really fair to the products involved.

If it does it's job, appears well-made, and is a good price, I'm not sure why I'd hit it in the ratings. And hence my quandary; I don't consider three stars to be a "hit...in the ratings". It does the job, doesn't stand out in any other way, three stars. But, as you point out, it's not fair in the inflated system that we have available. So which wins out, an honest review system that benefits consumers, or review inf…

Unlike bugs, you are not triaging all products on Amazon together. If I search for a certain type of USB cable, I expect to see 5 star products. I'm not disturbed that Spirited Away is also rated 5 stars. I'm not confused and decide to buy a great film instead of a cable.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#179

Post by voltagex_ »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #66

I see no reason why to buy anything but Anker. I once tried to purposely destroy an Anker MicroUSB cable (bought a 5 pack that had three 3ft, one 6ft, one 1ft, didn't need the 1ft), by grabbing the head of it with clamping pliers and yanking the fuck out of it with the cable wrapped around my hand, and bending it to near 180 degrees repeatedly for about 5 minutes. I could not kill it without straight up taking wire c…

It's difficult to buy Anker outside of North America. The Amazon Basics stuff is reasonable, too.
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