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Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

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Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#201

Post by Barrin92 »

annoyingnoob wrote: post #102

Amazon is sealing its own fate here. I don't want the AliExpress experience, which is what Amazon offers now. I know where to find cheap products and bad information and I don't need Amazon for that. I find it odd that Amazon clings to bad vendors over long standing customers. They are no longer the most customer focused company, if they ever were. What does it say about your company when your company abandons its go…

or the range of customers has simply broadened and includes way more casual shoppers now who like to buy from third party vendors rather than wanting a sort of premium experiences, after all AliExpress is pretty damn popular.

I personally for example have always ordered mostly cheap stuff from Amazon without high expectations and for convenience, and when I want to buy something where I want to be 100% sure I go to their actual store (either digital or physical).

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#202

Post by delecti »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #79
rsync wrote: post #48

Now I remember ... The previous review practice that outraged me was when someone here at HN was producing very detailed analysis of LED bulbs (spectral analysis, etc.) and proving that lots of bulbs on Amazon had CRI and color temperature ratings that were way off . He then described how he posted that in some reviews and they were all taken down. Which is to say, crummy LED bulb on Amazon with an inflated CRI canno…

Yes, Amazon is a mess. I recently was fed up with the price of a beverage at the local overpriced Albertson's, $3 per tiny can. Decided to order a case on big A instead, to save some money. Guess what, same price per can plus exorbitant shipping cost on Amzn. Came out to ~$5 a can and I had to buy 4 or 12 at a time. It just didn't make sense. I left a polite review that said as much, and it was rejected. :D

Was the listing mislabeled? Because otherwise I'm not sure what your complaint is. You bought in bulk, without a bulk discount, and got a larger quantity of an item at a worse unit price. If your review was politely informing people that the price was bad, then you're not really reviewing the item, because you like the item.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#203

Post by jrockway »

jdmichal wrote: post #150
jrockway wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something about how the human brain works that makes us hate this. It happens in games a lot; the community will complain that a certain character is broken and that they hate playing against it... but won't actually go play the character themselves to exploit the brokenness for their own gain. Seems silly to me. (Buying reviews might actually be illegal though, so that's a strong argument to not do it.)

If you've never read it before, I highly recommend reading David Sirlin's Playing to Win. http://www.sirlin.net/ptw/ Specifically the chapter "Introducing... the Scrub" discusses exactly this sentiment. http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/introducingthe-scrub > In Street Fighter, the scrub labels a wide variety of tactics and situations “cheap.” This “cheapness” is truly the mantra of the scrub. Performing a throw on some…

Yes! That's exactly what I was thinking of.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#204

Post by [deleted] »

ilamont wrote: post #16

I purchased the same webcam for my high school sophomore in September 2020, as school restarted (all online for him). The box contained a $20 "gift card" if I emailed proof of my 5-star review. It looks identical to the one I received (including the email address). Only the reward is different. I didn't try to write a review, I notified customer service in an attempt to report the seller. I documented everything incl…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#205

Post by kbenson »

jdmichal wrote: post #150
jrockway wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something about how the human brain works that makes us hate this. It happens in games a lot; the community will complain that a certain character is broken and that they hate playing against it... but won't actually go play the character themselves to exploit the brokenness for their own gain. Seems silly to me. (Buying reviews might actually be illegal though, so that's a strong argument to not do it.)

If you've never read it before, I highly recommend reading David Sirlin's Playing to Win. http://www.sirlin.net/ptw/ Specifically the chapter "Introducing... the Scrub" discusses exactly this sentiment. http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/introducingthe-scrub > In Street Fighter, the scrub labels a wide variety of tactics and situations “cheap.” This “cheapness” is truly the mantra of the scrub. Performing a throw on some…

And this is more akin to a situation where someone finds a glitch that allows them to throw someone from across the screen, never having to actually get close and risk attack. At that point, there's two options from the game designers.

They can patch the glitch to restore what people considered the normal, designed, and balanced gameplay, or they can state that's just how the system works now and people need to choose whether to accept that or not and play something else.

Amazon can fix (or attempt to at least) the problem and make it harder for sellers to get 5 star reviews and lower reviews averages for some big selling items, or they can choose to do nothing, and some people will decide to leave and shop elsewhere because they can't trust the site and reviews.

Actually, there's a third option, which is that they can say they are doing everything they can to fix the problem while not doing much, therefore maximizing both reviews/profit as well as customer satisfaction in the short term. If they actually start fixing the problem before too long, it might be the maximal solution for them, but if they take too long their reputation will suffer even more (and it may give competitors a toe-hold). I suspect Amazon is doing this. I have no idea if they can go longer, are at the point they need to change, or are too late, but as a customer it sucks right now.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#206

Post by ineedasername »

topkai22 wrote: post #186
jrockway wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something about how the human brain works that makes us hate this. It happens in games a lot; the community will complain that a certain character is broken and that they hate playing against it... but won't actually go play the character themselves to exploit the brokenness for their own gain. Seems silly to me. (Buying reviews might actually be illegal though, so that's a strong argument to not do it.)

The point of a game isn't to win, its to have fun. A certain character may disrupt the mechanics of the game that are the most fun to a subgroup of players. To take it to an extreme, let's say a character is introduced to a fighting game and this character will win as soon as the "A" button is pressed. Now whatever fun people were doing to win in the game before is gone. In order to win, you just have to pick this su…

Well, with game you have to be careful to distinguish between behavior unintended by developers and intentional design. The Street Fighter series has had any number of opportunities to "fix" behavior that some players consider "cheap" or an exploit. Developers have kept them in. If using those moves deprives another player of fun, that doesn't mean it shod be removed. There is always a winner and a loser, and someone who loses repeatedly to the same technique isn't any more entitled to the fun of winning. Winning is not meant to be a resource evenly divided among all players. Winning is predicated on skill, which is also not evenly divided among all players. Given effective counters, which always exist, calling other players cheap for having developed a novel play style amounts to a sense of winning as entitlement rather than earned.

Again, the above presupposes intentional design, or judgement that emergent behavior nonetheless keeps gameplay in balance..

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#207

Post by jkinudsjknds »

jdmichal wrote: post #150
jrockway wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something about how the human brain works that makes us hate this. It happens in games a lot; the community will complain that a certain character is broken and that they hate playing against it... but won't actually go play the character themselves to exploit the brokenness for their own gain. Seems silly to me. (Buying reviews might actually be illegal though, so that's a strong argument to not do it.)

If you've never read it before, I highly recommend reading David Sirlin's Playing to Win. http://www.sirlin.net/ptw/ Specifically the chapter "Introducing... the Scrub" discusses exactly this sentiment. http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/introducingthe-scrub > In Street Fighter, the scrub labels a wide variety of tactics and situations “cheap.” This “cheapness” is truly the mantra of the scrub. Performing a throw on some…

This feels like a poor analogy though. Throws are part of the game design. What's being talked about is more like exploiting a glitch. The glitch may truly be unfair and not part of the intended system. The scrub's fault here is that he doesn't understand the system, but at high level play, there's exploits that the professional community agrees not to employ because its the group assumes social norms to make a better system.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#208

Post by ineedasername »

rzzzt wrote: post #136
Buttons840 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both. Those in on the hustle will do the work to keep the site updated (making money in the process). Everyone else just uses it to spot fake reviews.

A review review site, then.

And the arms race continues...

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#209

Post by heavyset_go »

GordonS wrote: post #180
mancerayder wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a negative review for glass that broke by itself in the fridge 5 times (out of 6 pieces). Amazon removed it. I asked why and was sent a link by a bot-like sender. Some months back I gave a so so review on AirBNB and had it removed. I asked why, I was sent a link and cut and pasted guidelines. Responding using Reason led to being completely ignored. Then I discovered a reddit subgroup where hosts tell each oth…

Does Amazon notify you when they remove one of your reviews? I've done numerous reviews over the years and have never got such a notication, but your comment has me wondering if my reviews are still there!

No, and they'll remove your ability to leave reviews at all if they keep getting taken down.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#210

Post by maxk42 »

I'm seeing similar things everywhere. I stood in line for a food truck a couple years ago that offered a promotion "$2 off your order if you show us your 5-star review of our truck on [site]." Obviously, you have to do this before you even order your food so I was intensely put-off by this. I gave them a 5-star review with no comment, received my discount, then after I tried the food I edited the review to 1-star with an explanation that it probably would've been a 4-star review had they legitimately just prepared good food but gaming the reviews was a sleazeball move. The review was removed.

Every single game on the Google Play store does this now, too. Instead of just letting people review honestly, they show a pop-up saying "Are you enjoying this game?" if so, they ask you to review it on the store. If not, they ask you to review it via their own private feedback system. Not quite as bad as requiring a 5-star review, but obviously this alters the score the app would otherwise receive.

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