Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#441

Post by BlueTemplar » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 11:01 AM UTC

esailija wrote: post #414

interpol_p wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asking for a review is OK. Asking for a five-star review is not I imagine that food truck operator would do a lot better by simply asking "Like or hate our food? Leave an honest review on for a discount" If their food and service is good, they'll get the positive reviews they need

If the food and service is good what incentive is there to write a review at all? It's additional work and time for nothing. I never write positive reviews for that reason. For negative reviews it's completely opposite. So completely "honest" unedited review system would always skew very negative, because only negative reviewers have any incentive to write a review.

There should be incentives in place to write a review.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#442

Post by BlueTemplar » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 11:04 AM UTC

higerordermap wrote: post #332

maxk42 wrote: post #210

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 wit…

I think the second thing falls into grey area. Users are often unkind and leave 1-star reviews on apps when it's often their fault.

That usually means that the advertising is not attracting the right kind of customer.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#443

Post by TavsiE9s » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 11:10 AM UTC

RachelF wrote: post #217

TavsiE9s wrote: post #23

I've shifted quite a lot of shopping to eBay after Amazon shifted their focus to being a marketplace.

Be aware that eBay now censors low star reviews. I've had my 1-star review of fake products removed twice from eBay.

Good to know, thank you for pointing that out.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#444

Post by BlueTemplar » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 11:11 AM UTC

joshuaissac wrote: post #252

AlexITC wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having written several browser extensions, I have been thinking on building another one for people to comment on any website. Which ends up being useful for reviews. And, while I like the idea, there are two main details preventing me from pursuing it: - Moderating content provided by users is exhausting/costly. - I see no other way than ads to fund it, while it can potentially work as a paid app, it won't work until…

There was a similar add-on called Dissenter written by people associated with the American right-wing social network Gab, and it was banned from the Mozilla and Chrome add-on stores, citing policy violations.[1] 1. https://hub.packtpub.com/mozilla-and-google-chrome-refuse-to...

But then people can still install that plugin, can't they?

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#445

Post by BlueTemplar » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 11:14 AM UTC

gleenn wrote: post #225

AlexITC wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having written several browser extensions, I have been thinking on building another one for people to comment on any website. Which ends up being useful for reviews. And, while I like the idea, there are two main details preventing me from pursuing it: - Moderating content provided by users is exhausting/costly. - I see no other way than ads to fund it, while it can potentially work as a paid app, it won't work until…

I think a similar add-on went to court and was deemed illegal. Sorry, can't cite my source. I think it's a pretty common idea but falls flat quickly once you realize there isn't a reliable way to mass vet reviews

That doesn't make any sense, why would you be responsible for comments left by other people - unless you had editorial control?

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#446

Post by bananaface » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 11:21 AM UTC

b0rsuk wrote: post #424

Mistletoe wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost every single item on Amazon and everywhere else is 4.5 stars. No matter how terrible. I can see one star after one star helpful review but it will still be 4.5 stars for items that just fall apart and are obviously defective. The sellers just game the reviews until they get to that magic 4.5. Goodhart's Law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Luckily Amazon will take back anythi…

I deal with this by explicitly seeking sub-5 reviews. I read them to see if criticisms mentioned bother me. I used to think I was a little paranoid, but now I'm going to double down on this.

Unironically good advice I got a few years ago was to only ever read the 3-star reviews, because they're the most informative and balanced.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#447

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 11:24 AM UTC

maxk42 wrote: post #210

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 wit…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#448

Post by BlueTemplar » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 11:31 AM UTC

filoleg wrote: post #241

jdmichal wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this is life, and there's not really a difference between "arbitrary rule system designed for a game" and "arbitrary rule system designed for 5-star reviews". They're both just "arbitrary rules", and some people are going to Play to Win. So what are you going to do about them?

I think you and the parent comment are both missing the point of the example with the videogame (not in the least part, because the analogy was not really applicable at all). Having that "arbitrary" throw mechanic in the game was done intentionally to make the game more balanced and enjoyable for the customer. The only people complaining about it are very very early beginners, who don't realize that removing that mec…

Since most of the players are going to be early beginners, it is a problem.

It's very hard to balance a game to be fun both for most players and for the e-sports players.

Note also that the "average" player, the one that is average in the sense of being randomly picked among the players playing at any specific time, is likely to spend a lot of time in the game, and therefore is also likely to be exceptionally good - for instance the "most played" games have a median gameplay time of only ~30 hours!

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#449

Post by b0rsuk » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 11:33 AM UTC

bananaface wrote: post #446

b0rsuk wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deal with this by explicitly seeking sub-5 reviews. I read them to see if criticisms mentioned bother me. I used to think I was a little paranoid, but now I'm going to double down on this.

Unironically good advice I got a few years ago was to only ever read the 3-star reviews, because they're the most informative and balanced.

It's true. Often reviews are split between excited and outraged people. Those who write 'yellow' (as opposed to green or red) reviews on Metacritic are often those who can see nuance, weigh pros and cons.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#450

Post by tertius » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 11:35 AM UTC

interpol_p wrote: post #418

tertius wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're responding to someone that agrees with you. But also states that everyone else is review-farming and that if they don't do it they will be left behind. I.e. your plan is doomed to fail.

I'm just stating that there's an alternative to asking for only 5-star reviews that will likely work better. Just asking for honest reviews (and offering a discount for them) is more ethical, and the honesty will be appreciated by customers.

And I agree with you that it's the right thing to do. But saying it will work better is probably not true.

Except maybe if you include a line like: "were not going to ask you for a 5 star review like others do, but reviews really make it break us and we're trying to be honest. Thanks for the support"