The January 2009 issue of PCWorld magazine has a brief article dealing with consumer reviews, regarding products and services.
Their main focus dealt with faked or biased reviews that could have been placed there by shills of the company providing the product or service but there are other types of reviews to deal with.
I never put full faith in a consumer review when looking for a product or service, but I do pay attention to them.
Never accept a review that sounds as well worded as the commercial that peddled the product, chances are the review is planted, and be on the lookout for multiple reviews with the same traits, especially if they sound like Billy Mays wrote them.
Never accept a negative review at face value, be it one or many if they do not describe in any coherent detail why the product deserves a negative report, remember negative reviews can also be planted there by shills for the “competition”.
Everyone has different needs for a product or service and not everyone uses them to the same degree, then there is know-how and patience to be factored in before you accept a review for what it is.
Some people have unrealistic expectations for a product and will judge it with those standards in mind, dont believe a negative review for a $20 coffeepot if the reviewer sounds like they expected it to perform the same as a $99 Braun or Bunn model, when you spend $20 for a coffeepot, you are getting a $20 coffeepot.
Some people are not technically savvy and do not know how to fully utilize a product or service or lack any reasonable amount of patience to use or understand that product or service. therefore these people will typically slam or blame the product for their own ignorance or shortcomings. Yes there are people in this world whom have no business operating much less owning anything dealing with lets say technology.
The most coherent and trustworthy reviews I have read are on newegg.com’s website, I havent seen one that I could not believe.
Just because someone describes a negative doesnt mean it will be bad for you, remember how someone used the product might be why they gave it a bad mark, which in reality will never mirror how you will use the product. For example a camera memory card might have slow write speeds, a negative for a professional photographer, not a big deal for a home/hobby/casual photographer.
Avoid reviews that seem more inflammatory or excess praise, somewhere in the middle you can find the truthful and reasonable reviews.
A trustworthy review allows the reviewer to outline the pro’s and con’s, I avoid the ones where the reviewer couldnt keep the con out of the pro part, sarcasm turns me off in this regard. A trustworthy review will be well thought out and written without sounding like a endorsement or condemnation.
Reviews are a good tool for making purchasing decisions, just dont put all your eggs into that basket, be wary.
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