Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews • Hacker News Board

Re: Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

#101

Post by SlowTao » Wed, Jul 02, 2025, 5:56 AM UTC

zdragnar wrote: post #85

IncreasePosts wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla wants to be the "web you can trust" brand, which involves not just shipping a browser but protecting people from the rougher sides of the internet.

I think this is the real answer; they've got a vague mission statement, they saw something they wanted to support, opted to buy it, and in classic Mozilla fashion let it squander because the managers in charge moved on. It's a move straight out of Google's playbook, with the glaring flaw of them not being Google, and their user base likes them for not being Google. Honestly, Mozilla gives me gnome vibes. They're so c…

I do get the feeling that Mozilla has no idea what their goal is any more. Another one they are like is Yahoo! Just seem to be endlessly trying new things but not really committing to any of the new things one they have them.

Re: Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

#102

Post by pergadad » Wed, Jul 02, 2025, 5:58 AM UTC

dawnerd wrote: post #48

dankwizard wrote: post #46

It was falling behind. The dodgy stores were getting more creative and Fakespot needed to play catch up. You've got stores that would include a $5-$20 coupon/gift card in the item in exchange for a positive review. Sure, this didn't 1:1 translate but if a user did it would look like a legitimate review. You've got a plethora of LLMs out there just itching to GENERATE. Then an expensive option I was suprised happened…

Some company paid be 100 bucks to change my review to be positive so they sent the money via PayPal no problem then I changed the review to say they paid me to write a glowing review and of course Amazon ended up removing the review for being harmful to their customers

Much more, Amazon also loves to remove all reviews that mention that the product is counterfeit. Several times I did receive clear counterfeit goods via Amazon, but there is no way to warn others as these reviews are blocked.

Re: Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

#103

Post by haiku2077 » Wed, Jul 02, 2025, 6:01 AM UTC

Loughla wrote: post #39

derekp7 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also tell you if a product has a high return rate, which is helpful.

Except with clothes and especially belts, I've noticed. It seems like everybody buys three of the clothes they buy and returns two of them. It makes it harder to identify shitty clothes.

> It seems like everybody buys three of the clothes they buy and returns two of them.

Amazon used to offer this as a service!

Re: Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

#104

Post by fn-mote » Wed, Jul 02, 2025, 6:02 AM UTC

grogenaut wrote: post #98

colonial wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon is awful when it comes to striking down accusatory customer reviews. Last year I (like a fool) purchased some chunky thru-hole MOSFETs on Amazon. Lo and behold, despite the datasheets promising a few amps with 3.3V at the gate, I only got a few milliamps. Obviously counterfeit - but no matter how hard I tried or how much indirection I employed, Amazon always took down my review warning others of this verifiabl…

you're supposed to report this to amazon customer service not via a review. just send em a photo of the bribe and they'll verify it. yes it's not as satisfying but they can't validate your review unless you also posted a photo.

Amazing BS policy, even people on Hacker Hews don’t know this approach.

Re: Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

#105

Post by gblargg » Wed, Jul 02, 2025, 6:11 AM UTC

pergadad wrote: post #102

dawnerd wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some company paid be 100 bucks to change my review to be positive so they sent the money via PayPal no problem then I changed the review to say they paid me to write a glowing review and of course Amazon ended up removing the review for being harmful to their customers

Much more, Amazon also loves to remove all reviews that mention that the product is counterfeit. Several times I did receive clear counterfeit goods via Amazon, but there is no way to warn others as these reviews are blocked.

I do Amazon Vine reviews and we learn quickly all the things we can't say. For health products you can hardly say anything due to the legalities of appearing to make health claims. People also get their reviews removed regularly for claiming something is inauthentic. I kind of get why, because a person probably doesn't have the equipment to really determine that, and Amazon has separate channels for reporting such things. Basically reviews are just for relating your experience of a product. There are ways of communicating lack of authenticity by being more humble, as in noting that it doesn't seem like leather, or when burned it melts like plastic. I've reviewed many e.g. fake memory cards, and had no problem noting that it has less capacity than claimed, and showing some test programs' results that confirm.

Re: Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

#106

Post by pseudo0 » Wed, Jul 02, 2025, 6:12 AM UTC

pergadad wrote: post #102

dawnerd wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some company paid be 100 bucks to change my review to be positive so they sent the money via PayPal no problem then I changed the review to say they paid me to write a glowing review and of course Amazon ended up removing the review for being harmful to their customers

Much more, Amazon also loves to remove all reviews that mention that the product is counterfeit. Several times I did receive clear counterfeit goods via Amazon, but there is no way to warn others as these reviews are blocked.

Part of the issue is that they commingle inventory their warehouses receive from third-party sellers based on ISBN. So if you receive a counterfeit, it might be the fault of the seller you bought it from, or it might be Amazon's fault for mixing in counterfeit goods from some other third-party seller without doing proper quality control. Unsurprisingly they don't want reviews that draw attention to this longstanding problem.

Re: Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

#107

Post by ozgrakkurt » Wed, Jul 02, 2025, 6:14 AM UTC

shawnz wrote: post #97

ozgrakkurt wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not having things and regretting passing up on something is much more real for people that had problem with money before. Having too many things is just abstract unless you had that problem maybe

Is 12 vacuums abstract?

It is abstract in the sense that you might not see why that would be a problem

Re: Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

#108

Post by jorvi » Wed, Jul 02, 2025, 6:21 AM UTC

Scoundreller wrote: post #96

aussieguy1234 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon are becoming like AliExpress and Temu. They can always do it cheaper, but the quality is touch and go. Now with fake reviews it alot harder to tell what's good quality and what's not.

At least for what I buy from aliexpress, it hasn’t been infiltrated by fake reviews. Lots of incomprehensible or useless human ones though. (And bad machine translations by aliexpress…)

The problem with AliExpress is that you'll get a tip about time X, you click the link and the link is dead. You then search for thing X. You get about 1000 results of X from different sellers, most of them crap imitations and some of them even from stores that copy the name of former store of product X. All of the product pages look identical.

One of these Results of X is still selling the actual quality product, but there is no way for you to ascertain it because you can't trust the reviews, nor the sold amount because they might as well just be good at tricking people.

Re: Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

#109

Post by mohsen1 » Wed, Jul 02, 2025, 6:22 AM UTC

مشک آن است که خود ببوید نه آنکه عطار بگوید

“Musk is that which smells by itself, not what the perfumer says (about it).”

This line is from Saadi Shirazi, the classical Persian poet which has become a proverb in Persian speaking world. Reviews are at this point what the seller wants you to read.

As long as Amazon is the seller, and host of the reviews there is no way to trust Amazon would be fair in hosting those reviews.

The only way to know about a product is to read about it elsewhere like New York Times which is not selling the product themselves.

Re: Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

#110

Post by probably_wrong » Wed, Jul 02, 2025, 6:26 AM UTC

Mtinie wrote: post #58

Retr0id wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand going for the "free upgrade" the first time around, but why continue racking up more vacuum cleaners after that? Do you plan to sell them later?

It’s the rational option if someone is giving you something for less than it costs you and the moral implications of the action is minimal (at best).

All moral implications are minimal if your morals are flexible enough.

The OP is effectively taking thousands of dollars in bribes to erode public trust. I think even a child would see that this is wrong.

I know every man has their price, but I hope when the time comes my price will be higher than "a bunch of vacuums I don't need and I can't even be bothered to sell".