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Security researcher gets threats over Amazon review

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Re: Security researcher gets threats over Amazon review

#81

Post by lawnchair_larry »

Peretus wrote: post #62
ohjeez wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No winking is necessary. Back when I was among the Top Amazon Reviewers, I'd regularly be asked to review products and (especially) books (primarily those that were self published). I rarely said yes, but when I did I treated them exactly the same as I would for a product I'd bought myself. That included 1- and 2-star reviews... though usually I tried to weed out the crap before saying Yes to such an offer. The cost…

I can second this. I design, import, and sell products on Amazon, and when launching a new product I offer them for free or at a deeply discounted price to people who agree to provide an honest review. From my experience, across hundreds of transactions, I can say that reviews that are solicited with free or discounted products are much tougher than those received organically. Most people participating in these revie…

This is deceptive and you should stop doing it.

Re: Security researcher gets threats over Amazon review

#82

Post by Girlang »

If the product functioned, but had a security flaw like that (which doesn't reveal personal information, etc, just could allow someone else to turn your item on or off), I would have given it two stars. It is functional, and for some use-cases it could work (i.e., blocked from the outside Internet). One star would be if it didn't work, or opened a back door from your home network to China.

Still, he shouldn't cave in. The 'they'll fire me' story probably isn't true!

Re: Security researcher gets threats over Amazon review

#83

Post by jdietrich »

brownbat wrote: post #78
Fej wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the deal with ALL CAPS PARTS in certain legal documents, anyway? It can't possibly carry any legal weight...?

The Universal Commercial Code requires some terms be "conspicuous" in transactions, and says you can satisfy that requirement with all caps text of equal or greater size than the nearby text. There are some other options, like changing color or alternate fonts, but those are generally just more complicated.[0] An example of a contract term that must be conspicuous is selling something "as is," ie, claiming no warrant…

>There are some other options, like changing color or alternate fonts, but those are generally just more complicated.

The all caps thing is a holdover from the era of typewriters. On most typewriters, switching to bold face required changing the daisywheel or type ball; alternate colours would be lost on xerox- or carbon-copied documents. All caps was the most convenient option.

It's now a vestigial convention, like the floppy disk save icon.

Re: Security researcher gets threats over Amazon review

#84

Post by JupiterMoon »

jdietrich wrote: post #83
brownbat wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Universal Commercial Code requires some terms be "conspicuous" in transactions, and says you can satisfy that requirement with all caps text of equal or greater size than the nearby text. There are some other options, like changing color or alternate fonts, but those are generally just more complicated.[0] An example of a contract term that must be conspicuous is selling something "as is," ie, claiming no warrant…

>There are some other options, like changing color or alternate fonts, but those are generally just more complicated. The all caps thing is a holdover from the era of typewriters. On most typewriters, switching to bold face required changing the daisywheel or type ball; alternate colours would be lost on xerox- or carbon-copied documents. All caps was the most convenient option. It's now a vestigial convention, like…

Software licences are often written in plain text. There is no bold and no colour in asci text so uppercase is the only option.

Re: Security researcher gets threats over Amazon review

#85

Post by bayamos »

tamana wrote: post #67
UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is interesting is that Amazon had the "Amazon Vine" Program which clearly listed that people received the product for free (or at a discount). But for whatever reason that has fallen out of fashion, and now manufacturers recruit outside to get unmarked reviews which sometimes don't list the potential conflict of interests. I wonder if this behaviour violates FTC's rules[0], I know it was a big thing on YouTube (…

Is Vine discontinued? My buddy still does it, at least until recently

A lot of participants quit a year ago when Amazon began issuing 1099s so participants would pay tax on goods received.

Re: Security researcher gets threats over Amazon review

#86

Post by Peretus »

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #81
Peretus wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can second this. I design, import, and sell products on Amazon, and when launching a new product I offer them for free or at a deeply discounted price to people who agree to provide an honest review. From my experience, across hundreds of transactions, I can say that reviews that are solicited with free or discounted products are much tougher than those received organically. Most people participating in these revie…

This is deceptive and you should stop doing it.

Would you mind describing what part of this is deceptive?

Amazon offers its own product-to-review system called Vine that is invite-only. Not all sellers can participate in the Vine program as it's available to Vendor Central sellers, meaning that Amazon purchases the products directly and lists them as 'ships from and sold by Amazon'.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help

Additionally, on each review, the reviewer is required to explain that they received the product in exchange for a review.

How would you recommend getting reviews for a product, apart from offering them at a discount?

Edit: Added link to Vine FAQ

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