How many reviews are bought?

Aloreth

Aloreth

Aloreth

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Joined
16 Aug 2005
Posts
1,372
Ok so im in the market for a new computer at the moment, been shopping around for bits and bobs and at the moment i'm trying to decide what case I want. I was reading the reviews of some of the cases held under OcUK and some of them just sound made up

"I have been through a load of cases recently, Antec, Zalman, coolmaster and cosair and all of them have been terrible build quality. This case is by far the best I have ever used"

Doesnt really fill me with confidence :D

Got me thinking, how many companies realise how important websites like OcUK (and competitors are) and just pay people to post good reviews of their products on the website and slate their compeitors on the forum.

Thoughts?
 
The problem with that type of 'marketing' is that it will likely get either shouted down or swamped in a public forum.

OK so shop website reviews are a bit different but to be honest I think most people take those with a pinch of salt. I must admit if I see a piece of furniture, hotel etc with say 48/50 positive comments then it does convince me to pull the trigger sometimes, but with computer hardware I don't really pay it any credence and just rely on the research I've already done beforehand.
 
I'm sure of happens but is usually pretty obvious. That said you do get fanboys blowing trumpets all over the place too.

You just needs a good bs filter, a forum is much more reliable than say an etailer or magazine review. It's soon pretty obvious if a product is genuinely good, or is just being plugged by a certain party.

On the other side of the coin, certain manufacturers reps will openly post on tech forums sometimes, with genuine support advice rather than a sales pitch, which I think can only be a good thing, and a much better advert than review buying/spamming.

Yellowbeard for example, although he doesn't post often, and no I don't work for them before you ask! I think its a great idea, and should be welcomed.
 
Another perspective, user submitted 'star ratings' cannot be relied on, as people will general be suffering from a placebo effect when reviewing, and there's nothing to stop an admin filtering out any particularly scathing reviews.
 
Think about this:
Would anyone here ask medical advice from plumber?

So how does it make product better when someone completely unknown you don't know anything about and know even less about his/her knowledge level?
Heck, some sites still rate things like PSUs as good even if it's made from cheap low quality parts prone to breaking fast.

And user reviews...
Truth is that most of western world is as good as remote controlled drones drooling like rabid over what ever marketing BS tells them to drool over and keep repeating like broken record.
Doesn't take long to find "reviews" and stuff with big enough logical holes to fit whole aircraft carrier through them.
 
I usually take forums such as these as my reviews. Gives proper customer experiences by people who know what they're talking about. :)
 
basically, the reviews are all "OMG WOW THAT IS THE BEST THING EVER!" probably because most people aren't that educated in what they buy, and whatever the product in question replaced was almost certianly slower/worse etc.

for example, i went from a socket 754 sempron 2600+ (currently for sale in MM btw...) to an AM3 sempron 140, and of course its was going to be faster, but i wasnt expecting it to be that much faster (obv, ram/graphics factored as well). naturally i was pleased that id got such a bargain and sung it to high heaven ... for about a week. then i got me an unlockable phenom, same story all over again...
 
I must say, I've been in the market for a few electronic gadgets recently and it annoys me the number of "reviews" that have merely quoted the blurb from the manufacturers web site.
 
You could always post here if you are doubtful over some case or component and most people will probably let you know if it's a good choice or not.
 
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