Review prejudice – who do you trust?

[Robin GrahamParticipant @robingraham42208]

I buy an unconscionable amount of stuff through Amazon partly because it's convenient but also because of the reviews. It's often possible to distinguish between ridiculous stuff ( eg: Slot Head Brass Woodscrews "they don't fit a Pozidrive driver which is standard nowadays, and the head just breaks off when you tighten them 1 star DON'T BUY" ) and genuine problems which appear again and again. But sometimes with 'niche products' (I'm talking taps and dies for example, not 'exotic' items) there are few reviews in native English and I resort to the opinions of Johnny Foreigner. I have realised that for some reason I value the opinions of French and German reviewers above those those in the UK and the rest of Europe. From North America I tend to trust those from Canada more than those from the USA.

I'm not sure how these prejudices have arisen in me. I'd be interested to know if others have similar irrational tendencies.

For pedants (I'm looking at you MichaelG ) I know it should have been 'whom' in the title, but tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis . And all that rot.

Robin

 

Edited By Robin Graham on 03/06/2022 01:27:40

[Robin GrahamParticipant @robingraham42208]

[PatJParticipant @patj87806]

Generally the reviews on this side of the pond give an indication of a product, but you have to take all of them with a grain of salt.

Generally the 4 star reviews begin with "I have never used this product before, and I know nothing about it, but it seems like a 4 star product".

The reviews I pay attention to are the ones that say "I used this product for a week, and all the pieces fell off of it, and it failed. The manufacturer won't take it back".

It is the negative review comments that seem to be the important ones, because those people seem to have actually used the product.

Some people seem to post reviews as if it were a social media "trendy-popular" thing to do, which makes for some really worthless reviews.

.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

If I'm looking for an item, say the azk123 fridge I search for

"azk123 problems" on google first

kind of thing

Then filter out the BS

Trustpilot still seems to be pretty good

Edited By Ady1 on 03/06/2022 02:08:27

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

It has gotten to the stage these days where using "whom" often sounds pretentious and is best left alone in most cases, except the most formal.

Most of the internet grammar Nazis who correct such things know way less about English grammar and usage than they think they do. So many of their posts contain errors they are oblivious to. What they learned in school was the mere tip of a very large iceberg, and in some cases wrong anyway. School teachers often had little formal training in such things. They would do well to heed the advice of a linguistics professor I once knew: Never correct someone's speech, unless you are married to them — and want a divorce. I think that applies to digital speech on forums etc.So carry with whoever you trust.

Sounds like you have the review thing sussed. There are so many surveys finding a huge percentage of net reviews are fake. It seems unlikely, as you say, that the specific negative experiences are fake. Glowing praise from fellow Far Eastern countrymen with little or no checkable history, hmmm not so much!

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

Posted by Hopper on 03/06/2022 03:58:50:

So many of their posts contain errors they are oblivious to… …There are so many surveys finding a huge percentage of net reviews are fake.

Surely "so many of their posts contain errors to which they are oblivious".

I think that is as much a case of the inviolable law of the internet which says that any post correcting a spelling mistake will itself contain a spelling mistake and any post pointing out a math (sic) error will itself contain a maths error.

Does your point about surveys imply that if, instead of reading the reviews themselves, we read a reliable survey of the reviews, we might achieve more enlightenment? Should we also carry out a survey to determine how many surveys are unreliable (please see documentary 'Yes Prime Minister' on national service).

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Robin Graham on 03/06/2022 01:23:44:

…

For pedants (I'm looking at you MichaelG ) …

.

Then I suggest you look elsewhere, Robin

MichaelG.

[AJAXParticipant @ajax]

The worst reviews of all are the sponsored Vine reviews on Amazon. Don't trust them!

[David JennerParticipant @davidjenner61726]

As far as reviews are concerned, I tend to go for a concensus of opinions. I accept that my final choice is influenced by my own bias!

Regards

Dave J

[DiogenesIIParticipant @diogenesii]

I have a prejudice about buying from enormous corporations offering cheap & easy deals to lure the foolish into creating a marketplace in which independent specialist suppliers with a knowledge of their products and an awareness of the importance of return custom cannot compete and will eventually wither and die, or become 'niche' and have to supply at boutique prices.

(sorry Robin – not intended as a personal jibe).

Edited By DiogenesII on 03/06/2022 08:41:11

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by DC31k on 03/06/2022 06:28:10:

Posted by Hopper on 03/06/2022 03:58:50:

So many of their posts contain errors they are oblivious to… …

Surely "so many of their posts contain errors to which they are oblivious".

Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.

As Winston Churchill supposedly said.

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Posted by DiogenesII on 03/06/2022 08:37:11:

I have a prejudice about buying from enormous corporations offering cheap & easy deals to lure the foolish into creating a marketplace in which independent specialist suppliers with a knowledge of their products and an awareness of the importance of return custom cannot compete and will eventually wither and die, or become 'niche' and have to supply at boutique prices.

(sorry Robin – not intended as a personal jibe).

Edited By DiogenesII on 03/06/2022 08:41:11

Not entirely true, Amazon has independent sellers on the system. All you need to do is look for 'Dispatches from Amazon' and 'sold by Amazon'. These are Amazon, the rest that ship from 'so and so book shop' etc are private. It's also easier to set up a business sale on Amazon than the same on Ebay.

Amazon bad reviews are a little suspect. Some people don't read the specs and giving a printer that only prints on one side a one star review for not printing on two side a touch unfair.

Edited By Dave Halford on 03/06/2022 10:21:35

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

But Amazon has bought both BookDepository and ABE Books. The first was always a cheaper source of new books, now it's part of the sprawling octopus. And Abe Books used to be a listing place for independent used book sellers so they could avoid Amazon's rules and charges that make business difficult for them. Now they too can not escape the tentacles of the octopus.

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

I always sort reviews in worst first order to find which problems the product has. As Robin says, it's usually easy to ignore the 'idiot user' complaints. It's also neccessary to pay attention to the dates of the reviews, since products are (very) occasionally modified due to poor customer reviews.

Mea culpa (what's with all this dead language creeping into the thread). I should have checked the reviews on the company from whom I ordered my solar power system. About 85% of the reviews were poor. They even included reviews from ex and current employees explaining that the company's business practices lead to both dissatisfied customers and staff!

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Robin Graham on 03/06/2022 01:23:44:

… I have realised that for some reason I value the opinions of French and German reviewers above those those in the UK and the rest of Europe. From North America I tend to trust those from Canada more than those from the USA.

I'm not sure how these prejudices have arisen in me. I'd be interested to know if others have similar irrational tendencies.

…

It's extremely odd, but true, that people are riddled with irrational prejudices. The 'two brains' theory might explain it. It proposes our brains developed in two stages, starting with a primitive mechanism race tuned to react quickly to the threat of being eaten by the sort of predator who has tasty monkey for dinner! This part of the brain is emotional, suspicious, stupid but fast. Later humans evolved intelligence, but this doesn't replace the primitive brain; the two coexist and often come to different conclusions. Intelligence gets much better answers but it's slow. Intelligence organises societies that can design cars and build cars, and allows individuals to plan road-trips, but driving the car in the moment is best done by the fast primitive brain using learned reflexes. It's good at emergency stops.

Meeting a bear in the woods, the primitive brain might save your life with an instant fight or flee response. Actually, it's safer to execute a slow retreat. If the bear is evaded, you can go back to the cave and organise the community to sort out the bear, perhaps digging a pit and baiting it with food. Letting the primitive brain start a fist fight with a hungry bear rarely goes well!

Honesty, reliability, intelligence and trustworthiness are personal rather than national characteristics. I think deciding an entire nation, race, religion or system is 'bad' is lazy and stupid. In ordinary life there's no easy way of separating good and bad people: trust has to be fostered,

What states, corporations and gangs do is different. Not difficult to decide the mafia and Mr Putin are anti-social and in need of positive corrective action!

Dave

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I do read reviews but I also take them with a pinch of salt. The glowing reviews for a product you know is average and the awful reviews are probably posted by people with an ulterior motive. YouTube reviews are often valueless as the reviewer is gifted the item or in the pay of the maker which is why linking to them is not permitted on this forum. The Amazon marketplace facility allows some suppliers of poor products to wear the cloak of Amazon and sometimes fail to satisfy. Of course peoples expectations and needs vary. Cheap tools may meet the requirements of a one time user whereas they could never meet the requirements of a professional user or have an unacceptably short life. Some people do not read the product description or know what they are buying, one classic is leaving a poor review for a sweet wine because it is sweet. A topical product was a poor review for a flag with eyelets at the side and none at the top, had they selected the banner rather than the flag option they may have been happy.

Mike

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

You have to allow for a reviewer comparing a budget item with a top quality expensive one. Value for money can take a rear seat at times. Also, the occasional bad review can be caused by certain people not reading or understanding the instructions properly.

[Anonymous]

Posted by Hopper on 03/06/2022 03:58:50:

It has gotten to the stage these days where using "whom" often sounds pretentious and is best left alone in most cases, except the most formal.

How the language is lost.

It's not nearly as pretentious as the modern habit of using "reach out to" instead of "contact".

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Or using 'leverage' as a verb, with the wrong pronunciation, instead of 'lever' or at all, for that matter.

Edited By Mark Rand on 03/06/2022 19:49:09

[An OtherParticipant @another21905]

A large online seller I use frequently has a habit of sending an email after purchase asking for a review of anything I bought. If I just don't respond, this happens repeatedly.

Now I realise it is very unhelpful to potential buyers, but I have become so sick of this that I have a 'cut and paste' terrible review which I always submit – I know, not helpful to potential buyers, but thats how sick of it I am, and it does prevent multiple email requests for a review.

Hopper: thanks for the info about Book Depository – being resident in a country where it is difficult to find English language books, I regularly buy large numbers of books from BD – I guess that will change now – anyone know of any other good English language book suppliers not under the control of a monolith?

(and if anyone doesn't like my English or syntax – tough! )

[Anonymous]

People are ten times more likely to post a review of a product if their review is negative.

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 03/06/2022 22:32:25

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Posted by Mark Rand on 03/06/2022 19:47:51:

Or using 'leverage' as a verb, with the wrong pronunciation, instead of 'lever' or at all, for that matter.

Or 'utilise' when 'use' would do just as well.

And what's with 'beverage' for 'drink?'

[Author]

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