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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

#81

Post by lt_kernelpanic »

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?

Obviously, the plan is to eventually collect enough to construct a Dyson sphere.

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

#82

Post by shawnz »

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).

Sure, but consider the costs of consuming your space with junk. Now you have less room for things you care about, there's a maintenance burden, and there's a mental burden as well

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

#83

Post by kirykl »

Solomoriah wrote: post #44

I sell books on Amazon.com through their KDP Direct platform, and I have one book with two different covers; each is its own "book" in their catalog. FakeSpot repeatedly marked reviews I knew were valid as fake; I knew this based on the fact that the same reviewer reviewed the "other" book and that review was NOT flagged as fake. And this happened multiple times, and sometimes the wording of the two reviews were diff…

I have managed some Amazon product pages, which I know have never used fake reviews. Fakespot consistently had false positives for these items

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

#84

Post by alister »

There's a discoverability problem with this tool because I've never heard of Fakespot or Mozilla Review Checker until today.

> Mozilla integrated Fakespot's technology directly into Firefox as the "Mozilla Review Checker" feature, making it easier than ever for users to verify product reviews without installing separate extensions.

If it was integrated directly into Firefox, it's funny that I don't recall ever seeing it. I wonder if it gets disabled if you set your security and privacy settings too high, or if you use the Firefox ESR versions (Extended Support Release).

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

#85

Post by zdragnar »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #53
bentcorner wrote: post #11

> Mozilla couldn't find a sustainable business model for Fakespot despite its popularity I don't know if it's fair for me to armchair quarterback, but still - what was their business model when they decided to do the acquisition? From the outside looking in barely did anything whatsoever. I browse Amazon using Firefox extremely often and I don't recall seeing any helper UI pop up. Even so, what would have been their…

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 caught up believing their own spiel that they don't understand why they keep missing the mark.

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

#86

Post by colonial »

throaway920181 wrote: post #65
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…

Amazon is not the place I'd go to for electronics parts. Mouser and Digikey are my go-tos.

Yeah, I'm generally aware of that - but I needed them fast, and decided it was worth taking a gamble. (I did at least get a return/refund, so there's that.)

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

#87

Post by throwaway843 »

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…

Dyson always struck me as scammy. All the way back to the 19990s. More proof.

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

#88

Post by defrost »

throwaway843 wrote: post #87
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…

Dyson always struck me as scammy. All the way back to the 19990s. More proof.

Because fake Dyson clones exist?

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

#89

Post by cjbgkagh »

dankwizard wrote: post #63
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?

You sound like my wife. I don't know. I grew up kind of poor and my mindset still has a "If I can get an item typically worth $100-200 for free, TAKE IT". The plan was to flip them on FB market place but I've just hoarded them.

Fake reviewer vs low ballers…

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

#90

Post by Digory »

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’d guess the idea was about generalizing the team’s efforts to spot fakery across the internet, in-browser. But that horse has left the barn.

Before AI, a lot of search result gamesmanship looked more like bad Amazon reviews. But leading-edge fraud is far past “humans pretending to be real, U.S.-based consumers/posters on a website.” The tools don’t generalize anymore.

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