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Do you trust online reviews? Now that Amazon is suing more than 1,000 people who allegedly offered to write glowing product reviews for cash, you might reasonably be concerned.
Turns out, deceptive reviews are commonplace online—and so are doubts about them. The research organization Mintel found that 57 percent of surveyed consumers are suspicious of companies or products that only have positive online reviews. And 49 percent believe companies probably give incentives for online reviews.
Fortunately, there are a few good techniques that can help you tell truth from fiction.
The article lists several ways to tell the difference. What are yours?
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* m2 stares at the monitor... it looks like a hamburger...
m2 - that's a bad sign
(Score: 5, Insightful) by acharax on Thursday October 22 2015, @07:11AM
I found positive reviews to be misleading and inaccurate even if they're not blatantly fake. It's not possible to tell how long after a purchase these reviews were posted, it could take years to see if something truly performs according to expectations - all these positive reviews tell me is that it "works as advertised" and for all I know they've probably been posted one week or less into usage which renders them worthless as an assessment of the product as far as I'm concerned. With negative reviews I can cross reference complaints people bring up and see if an issue crops up with relative frequency. Many a company has tried to sue/DMCA negative reviews off of the net in recent years, so I suppose there's some merit to my approach if they go to these length to censor such reviews. Of course, a company could post negative reviews about a competitor, but this is (or is at least perceived to be) riskier than posting fake positive reviews for your own products from a legal perspective.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Thursday October 22 2015, @08:00AM
Absolutely! I'm a beer drinker with a hobby of trying as many different beers from around the world as possible, and if I go to a multi-tap bar or a bottle shop in a foreign country, I often rely on other people's reviews to help me decide what to buy. I pull up the beer's page, sort by score, and look at the last page. Fanbois tell you almost *nothing* compared to those who are actually critical of the product. I have told this to dozens of fellow raters, but none have caught on yet. I'm glad I'm not alone!
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Thursday October 22 2015, @08:52AM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by KritonK on Thursday October 22 2015, @09:15AM
Some have already gotten wise. A store, from which I often buy stuff, has a reviews section for each product, which they either edit heavily, erasing bad reviews, or they populate using fake reviews. Each review has a pros and cons section. The cons section is either empty or contains trivialities, such as "only available in one color", trying to give the impression that the reviewer had a hard time finding something negative to write.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @10:58AM
I rate and review on Amazon fairly. Most are positive reviews but a couple negative reviews kept getting rejected. Yes, it was a verified purchase. One of them, after finally getting accepted after heavy editing, was soon redacted. Who redacted it? Amazon? The seller? It seems like Amazon is biased against negative reviews.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @04:53PM
>"... but a couple negative reviews kept getting rejected."
The negative reviews I have seen vary widely, including flames, off-topic commentary, problems that were obviously the fault of the reviewer, etc. I very much wonder what it was about yours that got them rejected or redacted.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @10:51PM
My gripe is with idiots on Amazon (and elsewhere) who give a product 1 star and state as reason:
Had to return....I didn't do my research and bought the wrong thing.
don't give a product 1 star because of your ignorance. I have seen this more than once.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by skater on Thursday October 22 2015, @11:53AM
This XKCD [xkcd.com] is an excellent example of why the negative reviews are sometimes the most important.
I have to admit selling a bit of my soul when it comes to reviews. We had a local company replace our front door a couple years ago. They did a great job, the price was fair, and we were happy with how the purchase and installation went. But, then, a few weeks later, they started calling me at work, repeatedly. Hey, do you want to do the sliding glass door? Do you want to replace your siding? Do you need a new roof? Carpeting? Every few weeks. It was out of control, and I snapped at them a few times, and they kept calling. So, I posted an online review saying we were thrilled with the work they did, etc., but not so happy with the hard sell we received afterward. A few days later they contacted me (via email), and told me they'd remove me from the call list (they haven't called me since), and they offered $100 off the next thing we'd have done by them if I'd take out that part of the review.
I thought about it for a few days and decided to do it, because we have some things we do need to do to the house, and saving $100 wouldn't hurt. I saw it as a little compensation for the headache. Of course, if we go to them and they start screwing with us, then the review goes back the way it was originally; there are too many construction companies around here looking for work to screw around. I also had to give them some respect for monitoring the situation online and taking steps to make their customers happier.
And, the part of the review I changed involved telephone calls - even a couple years later, we're still happy with the actual door and the installation, and I'd consider using them again. It's not like I went from "this installation had all kinds of problems" to "it was a great installation!"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nuke on Thursday October 22 2015, @12:33PM
I found positive reviews to be misleading and inaccurate even if they're not blatantly fake. It's not possible to tell how long after a purchase these reviews were posted
You can often tell. I once read a glowing review of a gadget that more-or-less repeated its spec ("does this, does that ...") which ended with "... this evening I'm going to plug it in and try it out". No kidding. I don't think it was fake - no faker would be that stupid.
Unfortunately, people tend to review things soon after buying them (I'm guilty too). It is difficult to think about doing a review of something you have been using for 2 years. Cars are an exception - not reviews as such but look at the car owners websites to assess the trend of merits and problems
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tempest on Thursday October 22 2015, @01:53PM
This is a problem I have with the modern technology cycle. By the time you let things shake out to see if it has a good track record, the product isn't even made anymore. Then again someone with good experiences with a product likely wouldn't remember to go back and review it (if still produced).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Thursday October 22 2015, @01:53PM
Sort by rating and look at the worst reviews first. Often enough you will find very good information in them which can reveal gotchas and other good information from people who have taken the time to actually use the product before rating. All too often people will review something after receiving it and barely using it. It takes time to develop an opinion and find the bugs. What good is the 5/5 star review you gave after using the product for one day if the damn thing breaks a week later or you find some niggling limitation?
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Friday October 23 2015, @02:03AM
Go on to new egg and tell me you still believe this.
"product sucks. came in right box and was right model but did not say on website it would not work with my computer. Never using this brand again because X is so much better" From a person who is not a verified owner.
I look at most of the reviews and try to determine a theme. If the theme seems to be "WOW THIS IS SO COPIED FROM ANOTHER GREAT REVIEW 5 STARS" or the "kicked my dog and impregnated my sister and then misjudged the delivery date by 3 weeks causing financial loss due to improper planning; wait for a sale"... then I try to find the other funny ones, too.
I will be a corporate shill and say that I trust consumer reports, and outside of them, I believe I have to make an educated guess based on the box ingredients and what my friends and my own experiences have shown. Online reviews by anonymous people are sadly best presumed to be a scam, in the same way that hit counters used to be what made it easy to tell if a website had funny content prior to reading what was there.
Even if real names and verified ownership for a review was required -- people will still make stuff up to attract attention to themselves. Why anyone would think otherwise is beyond me, but it could be that I am an attention whore myself and make posts to attract attention to myself..and thus recognize these people when I see them when reading through reviews. But I want to think I am not alone in my ability to spot clearly unhelpful reviews.