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

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

#181

Post by brookst »

like_any_other wrote: post #159
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…

So Amazon is complicit in fraud.

It’s fun to be outraged but a more nuanced read is that Amazon is stuck battling all kinds of fraud and it can be hard to differentiate. They also have a massive problem with fake bad reviews where a competitor spams competing products to try to increase sales of their own.

They have so many flavors of fraud that it’s very hard to get it right consistently at scale.

Not am Amazon fan, and please let’s not do the Reddit “understanding something is the same as excusing it” thing.

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

#182

Post by soderfoo »

bsenftner wrote: post #177
like_any_other wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Amazon is complicit in fraud.

What I don't understand is why some law firm, heavy with Ivy league predators, does not eye Amazon's fraud engine as a pot of generational gold to be taken? Sure, it will take some effort, but that's a huge pot of gold just sitting in the open with this blatant fraud in broad daylight.

There’s an old law school adage that A students become professors, B students go to work for C students.

It's similar for "shark attorneys," who will typically hail from tier 2 and 3 schools. They're the aggressive hustlers.

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

#183

Post by brookst »

hydrogen7800 wrote: post #51
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

So they _can_ do something about fake reviews.

Sure, just like the highway patrol can do something about speeding. Note that “do something” does not convey “completely eliminate with perfect fairness and accuracy”.

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

#184

Post by malfist »

DragonStrength wrote: post #146
grogenaut wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well, last week Amazon customer support flow routed me to an LLM chat bot which hallucinated a 1-800 number to call which was most definitely not Amazon on the other end. That's the real usefulness of LLMs: blackhole any dissent now that your monopoly is fully operational.

Internally we brag about how our LLM black hole "delights our customers"

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

#185

Post by is_true »

gadders wrote: post #152

I saw an instagram ad the other day offering to buy established Reddit accounts, presumably so that can post fake reviews. I also got offered some money over telegram to review a hotel from a large chain and leave a positive review.

Governments should block Instagram and Facebook until they start doing something about ads about ilegal offerings.

I've seen ads selling fake clothes, real clothes but with a fake store, money exchange scams, and a few others.

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

#186

Post by malfist »

yard2010 wrote: post #158
whilenot-dev wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this example suggests that you'd be happy to get paid in an alternative currency in exchange for Amazon reviews, and that currency is vacuums?! tbh I think your wife is right and you know it.

It's a waste of internet space writing tautologies. The wife is always right.

Good thing the Internet isn't almost out of space

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

#187

Post by BeFlatXIII »

Retr0id wrote: post #54
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…

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?

Christmas gifts for the whole family.

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

#188

Post by ziml77 »

brookst wrote: post #181
like_any_other wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Amazon is complicit in fraud.

It’s fun to be outraged but a more nuanced read is that Amazon is stuck battling all kinds of fraud and it can be hard to differentiate. They also have a massive problem with fake bad reviews where a competitor spams competing products to try to increase sales of their own. They have so many flavors of fraud that it’s very hard to get it right consistently at scale. Not am Amazon fan, and please let’s not do the Redd…

> Not am Amazon fan, and please let’s not do the Reddit “understanding something is the same as excusing it” thing.

That's a general social media thing and it's annoying as hell. Means every statement that corrects falsehoods and misconceptions against something that you yourself don't like needs to come with a disclaimer that you don't actually like it.

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

#189

Post by alpineman »

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…

Horrible for the environment

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

#190

Post by thoroughburro »

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…

> Feel a bit dirty doing it but that's ok I've got 12 vacuums that can clean my conscience.

All it takes to lose civilisation is for everyone to think as selfishly as this.

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