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Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

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Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#351

Post by ntsplnkv2 »

Mistletoe wrote: post #321
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…

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…

The most frustrating thing now is seeing a product >4.5 stars, but going to the reviews and all the most recent ones are 1/2.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#352

Post by JamesSwift »

runawaybottle wrote: post #260
vmception wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite is seeing 5 star reviews that are hijacking the top to complain. I've also seen 1 star reviews that are exalting reviews. But my all time ongoing pet peeve is how recommendation engines especially on video streaming and video game series use numbers and star systems that are not based on any other human's input. Not a critic, not a user score, just an algorithm's confidence score on similarities.

The 1 star review that loves the product but hated the way it was shipped. Someone needs to write a textbook on the pathology of those people.

No no no, we need to better understand the people who respond in the Q & A section with variants of "I don't know"

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#353

Post by esyir »

ineedasername wrote: post #194
Buttons840 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leave a 5-star review, get your $20. Resell the item on Amazon for $10 less than what the original seller was selling for. Earn $10 dollars profit. Repeat for other such products. Earn more profit. Make a blog about your antics; earn more profit, and help others profit the same way. Exploit the system until Amazon has to fix it. EDIT: I guess at no point is Amazon actually harmed by this scheme. However, the companie…

guess at no point is Amazon actually harmed by this scheme Maybe not in the short term, but in the long term it could. There are already things I haven't purchased because the review contents just didn't seem right, lots of 5 star and 1 star, practically no 3 or 4 star. I can't be the only one, and the situation is only getting worse.

I'll say that this is less an issue with amazon and more an issue with the overall culture. Anecdotally, I've noticed a move from score based metrics to binary like/dislike based metrics. Thus, reviews also take a binary 5 star: I loved it. or 1 star: I didn't approach.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#354

Post by rebuilder »

nextos wrote: post #266
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…

Google reviews are massively edited upon complaints. A while ago I rented a pretty nice and expensive apartment in Southern England. I was the first tenant and there were huge pipe leaks and other horrible construction issues, like a misaligned lift that kept trapping people inside. Neighbors next door, who owned apartments built by the same company, had different but equally annoying issues. And the company didn't d…

Selectively removing negative reviews is so sleazy, one wonders if it is actually even legal. Surely there's some truth-in-advertising legislation this falls under?

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#355

Post by Jermaine_Jabi »

JamesSwift wrote: post #352
runawaybottle wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 1 star review that loves the product but hated the way it was shipped. Someone needs to write a textbook on the pathology of those people.

No no no, we need to better understand the people who respond in the Q & A section with variants of "I don't know"

I think those are a side effect of Amazon sending out emails like 'what did you think of x product? Reply with your review!' after a purchase. Why they don't filter them out, I don't know.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#356

Post by bjterry »

chordalkeyboard wrote: post #261
filoleg wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The purpose of a system is what it does. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_wha...

If you have two actors within a system that are at odds, using the term "purpose" to refer to the system is either mostly incoherent, or (in most cases) trying to import the connotation of "purpose" into a conversation.

A charitable view would be that Amazon is trying to create a system that rewards fair sellers and provides unbiased reviews to consumers, while unscrupulous actors attempt to defeat that by engaging in new forms of grift. If the unscrupulous actors are 10% less effective because of Amazon's efforts, does that mean the "purpose" of the system has shifted 10% away from honest dealing? If Amazon all but eliminates dishonesty, does that mean the "purpose" of the system is to have an ever present, tiny baseline of fraud? At that point, better to use a different word.

It's because of strategic equivocation between the "actor" being implied in the "purpose." The implication is that Amazon creates the system and this is their purpose, but the cybernetician's definition of purpose is more like "the role this system plays in the overall society in light of all the infinite restrictions on everyone's behavior."

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#357

Post by ben509 »

JamesSwift wrote: post #352
runawaybottle wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 1 star review that loves the product but hated the way it was shipped. Someone needs to write a textbook on the pathology of those people.

No no no, we need to better understand the people who respond in the Q & A section with variants of "I don't know"

My theory: I think Amazon is showing the unanswered questions to random people, and they answer "I don't know" to make them go away.

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#359

Post by ben509 »

mancerayder wrote: post #108
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…

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…

> The trick is to remove negative reviews that violate guidelines, but for positive reviews that violate common sense and ethics, nyet.

I've heard it described as "malicious compliance."

Re: Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews

#360

Post by ineedasername »

topkai22 wrote: post #264
ineedasername wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused-- It's not a 3rd party when it's the creator of the game. Unless you're saying no games created by someone else are fun? I don't think you're saying that-- it's just the implication I'm getting because I'm not sure what you mean. Because any game you don't create has rules established by someone else.

Of course the original creator sets the baseline, but there absolutely can be rules created past the original creation of the game. For example, my friends and I generally disallowed playing as Oddjob in Goldeneye back in the day. Totally valid within the context of the game programming, totally disallowed by social convention.

Ah yes, Oddjob. I take that as an example of accidental imbalance though, not deliberate game design. I seem to recall the developers even saying something like "yeah, we realized it was broken, but thought it was funny" (not a direct quote.

I guess my viewpoint assumes that gameplay is legitimately & deliberately balanced. I suppose this is much harder in videogames with game characters having different skill sets. It's much harder to evaluate whether or not there is balance between them than, say, Monopoly: Everyone starts the same there-- the dog isn't any better off than the thimble. (Though I usually play as the dog, and pretend the thimble is a fire hydrant as I pass it by & do what dogs do... I may not be very mature for my age. It makes my kids laugh though)

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