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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday October 22 2015, @06:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the shills-abound dept.

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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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by KritonK on Thursday October 22 2015, @09:15AM

    by KritonK (465) on Thursday October 22 2015, @09:15AM (#253136)

    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.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @10:58AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @10:58AM (#253160)

    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

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @04:53PM (#253287)

      >"... 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

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @10:51PM (#253429)

      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.