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FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews

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Re: FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews

#271

Post by zinekeller »

dotancohen wrote: post #227
zinekeller wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the case of Eizo and Wacom it's probably fine I can quickly name up their primary competitors in this space, and for some reason (note: definitely anecdotal) I do see that for them, for the last ~5 years they are now being fiercely competed from both budget and professional angles. > but Apple are a bit more dubious. Me too. While Apple is definitely stumbling right now, unlike the previous two there is no serio…

Listen to me, consider this an "online review". Just buy a Dell (for the money) or Thinkpad (for longevity) laptop. I haven't had a problem installing a Debian-derived distro on either brand since 2007 or so. Wifi, external monitors, printing, sleep, everything just works. I have heard people have trouble with bluetooth and with fingerprint readers, but I don't use them so I cannot comment.

... I hope that you have read the thread and knew that this is for those in arts and media production, right? While large companies (like Disney) do have Linux render farms, and I am satisfied with Krita and Blender, most people do use Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere and cannot switch due to network effects?

Re: FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews

#272

Post by Randosaurus »

soared wrote: post #236
Randosaurus wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just yesterday I had the itch to watch through Trigun. I was floored when I realized that it was $40 on Amazon Video (streaming), but $22 if I purchase the DVD. Amazon's costs are __LESS__ for the streaming media than for the company/people selling the physical DVD. Ridiculous doesn't even begin to properly describe that behavior. If companies are charging premiums for services that cost them less to run, I'm damned…

There are a whole lot of other factors that go into a price besides the cost of the good.

The only factor that would make streaming more expensive is that people are willing to pay the price.

I'm not. That was my point.

Re: FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews

#273

Post by ratww »

lazide wrote: post #267
ratww wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have friends who used to be in the music instrument journalism industry, and the common approach was to only review what they liked. They got a guitar or synth that was bad? They would just tell the manufacturer they would rather not say something bad. Of course, after a while readers started asking questions, so the answer was to review products from companies not advertising in the magazines.

It seems like this is a recipe for being hungry. The only products they reviewed were products that no one advertised in their magazine?

No, no, let me rephrase: they would give good reviews to everyone that gave them free stuff that was good.

Customers asked "why aren't there any review saying a product is bad", so they started doing that with products whose manufacturers didn't advertise there or didn't give free stuff for review. They'd borrow, or buy a few Danelectro or Behringer pedals for $30 dollars just to make a bad review and "save face" to readers.

Basically they got "token bad products" to save face.

Re: FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews

#274

Post by z3ncyberpunk »

soared wrote: post #236
Randosaurus wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just yesterday I had the itch to watch through Trigun. I was floored when I realized that it was $40 on Amazon Video (streaming), but $22 if I purchase the DVD. Amazon's costs are __LESS__ for the streaming media than for the company/people selling the physical DVD. Ridiculous doesn't even begin to properly describe that behavior. If companies are charging premiums for services that cost them less to run, I'm damned…

There are a whole lot of other factors that go into a price besides the cost of the good.

You're right, ots called greed

Re: FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews

#275

Post by lazide »

ratww wrote: post #273
lazide wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like this is a recipe for being hungry. The only products they reviewed were products that no one advertised in their magazine?

No, no, let me rephrase: they would give good reviews to everyone that gave them free stuff that was good. Customers asked "why aren't there any review saying a product is bad", so they started doing that with products whose manufacturers didn't advertise there or didn't give free stuff for review. They'd borrow, or buy a few Danelectro or Behringer pedals for $30 dollars just to make a bad review and "save face" to…

Wow, that’s pretty good hah! (Well, in a misleading the consumer but quite clever way anyway)

A decade plus ago I worked alongside a team of writers, and they always kept alcohol in their desks. I totally understand why now.

Re: FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews

#276

Post by webinvest »

tdeck wrote: post #127

I have a small side project (a Google Docs plugin) that makes a trickle of money. One of my competitors launched one day and somehow they had 10 5-star reviews already, but the gSuite marketplace said they had only 3 users. One of those users had the same name as the author, but wrote their review as if they'd just stumbled upon it that day. Another literally had the name "Fiverr User" on their Google account next to…

Comment the name of their plug-in here and maybe someone here will nicely ask the FTC to check for wrongdoing here that undercuts a more honest business.

Re: FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews

#277

Post by [deleted] »

ausbah wrote: post #202
formvoltron wrote: post #97

Thanks. About 8 years too late to save my business... Scanner911. Killed by fake reviews on Apple's App Store. RIP In reality vast swaths of the world economy are entirely fake, supported with fake reviews, or fake analyst stock calls. It can be argued that much of the value in the technology space is entirely fake. Look at the current insane multiples. My point is that all this lying is supercharged due to Fed print…

money is fake but "printing all that money" cushioned many of the economic side effects of the pandemic

[deleted]

Re: FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews

#278

Post by darkerside »

antihero wrote: post #259
darkerside wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a big reason I think influencer marketing is picking up steam. Everyone knows that reviews and SEO can be gamed, with little to no consequence. If an influencer tells you something is good, at least their reputation is on the line. If they continually sell out, they kill the golden goose. So, as dumb as it sounds, influencer reviews are higher signal to me than typical online reviews.

> at least their reputation is on the line I don't think it is though, the sort of people who follow influencers generally aren't blessed with the greatest critical thinking skills.

What makes you say that? We are all followers (how do you think we learned from our teachers?). We all choose what sources to trust implicitly and which to question, and most of us don't use logic-based methods for making that choice.

I'm sure that wasn't just you repeating a statement you've heard before without carefully considering it.

Re: FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews

#279

Post by tdeck »

webinvest wrote: post #276
tdeck wrote: post #127

I have a small side project (a Google Docs plugin) that makes a trickle of money. One of my competitors launched one day and somehow they had 10 5-star reviews already, but the gSuite marketplace said they had only 3 users. One of those users had the same name as the author, but wrote their review as if they'd just stumbled upon it that day. Another literally had the name "Fiverr User" on their Google account next to…

Comment the name of their plug-in here and maybe someone here will nicely ask the FTC to check for wrongdoing here that undercuts a more honest business.

It's honestly not worth it for me. I just wish Google would either have and enforce policies for these reviews of get rid of the review feature entirely.

Re: FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews

#280

Post by oceanghost »

Scoundreller wrote: post #93
oceanghost wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm. In an industry I was in, the trade publication gave the "product of the year" award to whoever bought the most advertisements in the magazine.

I think that's true of all trade rags, as well as any top X under/over Y pubs.

I think so too. My brilliantly satirical boss at the time, called the team to attention and said something to the effect of:

(holding up the magazine cover) "I'd like to thank you for creating X magazine's product of the year!"

>he paused for a moment"Which is awarded to the highest ad-spend of the magazine for the year."

Absolute comedy, and a wonderfully satirical human being.

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