Strum Drum Messages: 229 Registered: November 2017
Master
Is it just me or does it seem like audio and video reviews are filled with fake reviews more so than other categories? Maybe it's due to product pricing so the payoff is greater. Anyway, how do you spot the fake reviews from the legitimate ones?
I don't know if this industry is any worse than others. I notice it a lot across the board. It's terrible in any industry, but even worse in this one because of how much these items can cost. I read this article a few months ago and it has some tips for figuring out whether a review is fake or not. The easiest way, like the say, is just to use Fakespot.
gofar99 Messages: 1947 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, I am sure there are fake reviews....but I suspect many are thought to be such because there are so many different tastes in music and video. What one person loves many will hate and so on. This has pretty much always been the case in creative media since day one. What is disturbing is bogus reviews for equipment. If you go to a site to possibly buy something and find nothing but glowing reviews it is a sure sign that something is not up to par.
That's a good point. Everyone has different opinions on things, especially when it comes to creative instruments. This is especially true with music, like how certain speakers will sound great while playing a certain kind of music but then not perform as well when another kind of music is played. People also have a bad habit of reviewing something without really testing it out and figuring out all the extra features.
You also made a good point about watching out for things that only have positive reviews, especially if they aren't very detailed. If I'm suspicious about a review, I'll check out their profile and see other reviews if I can to see if I notice any trends.
I feel that a lot of reviews are fake - and not just for audio and video equipment. There are so many affiliate sites out there on which people write reviews with links to products on Amazon and other seller sites. They're fishing for a sale so their reviews are going to be biased to the positive.
I have a friend who has an affiliate site for beauty products and she's told me that she throws in a negative review every now and then. She also rarely tests the products that she reviews.
Yeah, I have a hard time trusting reviews unless they give me a lot of details, and a few of the complaints/praises are backed up by other reviewers. Obviously, that's a lot easier to do on products that have a lot of comments. I have a real problem trusting things that are sold on Amazon Prime because I feel like they probably do everything they can to really push those products - and have the means to make things happen.
On Amazon, I only look at reviews that are from people who are verified purchasers. Even then, they can still be fake. I've found a few fake ones by copy-pasting them into Google and seeing where else they pop up. People rarely go around to a bunch of sites and post the same review without getting something out of it.
My way of detecting whether a review is fake or real is by looking for the "Pros and Cons" in the review. If the review is all praise, then that will immediately raise a red flag.
Wayne Parham Messages: 18782 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
I'm not so sure. If I write a review, I'm usually either really disgusted and have nothing good to say or I'm super-impressed and have nothing but praise.
But I do agree with the sentiment that there are lots of fake reviews out there and people shouldn't necessarily believe reviews on the web. It's just that I think the "sniff test" is more than just looking for absolute praise.
I'm more inclined to look at way to identify whether or not the people doing the reviews are actual customers or shills. So I like ABtoJayZ's approach. I also like forums like this one, where you can see all the posts from any user to get a feel for their experience level and where they're coming from.
If I can find evidence that the person making a review is genuine, I'm much more comfortable with their reviews. If I can't find some way to trust the identity of the reviewer, then I don't trust their review.
I don't rely on just one review. Say for example I'm in the market for a new cell phone. I go to forums like this, watch videos, read articles, and then decide whether I will buy the product or it.
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