Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

Why I love product reviews....written by NON-TECHS

(1/4) > >>

Josh:
This is a short rant. Sorry, I am in a hurry or it would have been longer/properly spell/grammar checked.

So, while I was browsing amazon.com recently, I noticed one thing. The quality of reviews for products there was a lot higher than that of a few tech sites I frequent. Products are actually reviewed, discussed and the rating system actually used for what it was designed for, to mention if a review was helpful or not.

I've noticed a trend in most TECH reviews in that there is usually a lot of flaming about a specific product, most reviews appear to be from people who have never touched the product or only used it for about a half hour, and these same reviews even sometimes come off as a paid review which was discussed on DC before.

The reviews on Amazon.com, and likewise many other sites similar to it, are actually very well written, most of the times, and the authors take the time to actually put a decent amount of useful information in their reviews. The rating system is actually used to identify helpful reviews which is a huge plus.

That said, why can't techies get it right and start posting reviews that actually have to do with the product. I don't care what your favorite OS is, what grudge you hold against a particular software or product manufacturer, why you feel entitled to something for free, why you think your really flimsy definition of "Value" determines a product be rated a 1 simply because you cannot afford it. I want a review of how the product functions, not it's price, your beliefs on how the product should be developed, or your beliefs on the company behind it. REVIEW THE PRODUCT, not the company.

Renegade:
This is a short rant. Sorry, I am in a hurry or it would have been longer/properly spell/grammar checked.

So, while I was browsing amazon.com recently, I noticed one thing. The quality of reviews for products there was a lot higher than that of a few tech sites I frequent. Products are actually reviewed, discussed and the rating system actually used for what it was designed for, to mention if a review was helpful or not.

I've noticed a trend in most TECH reviews in that there is usually a lot of flaming about a specific product, most reviews appear to be from people who have never touched the product or only used it for about a half hour, and these same reviews even sometimes come off as a paid review which was discussed on DC before.

The reviews on Amazon.com, and likewise many other sites similar to it, are actually very well written, most of the times, and the authors take the time to actually put a decent amount of useful information in their reviews. The rating system is actually used to identify helpful reviews which is a huge plus.

That said, why can't techies get it right and start posting reviews that actually have to do with the product. I don't care what your favorite OS is, what grudge you hold against a particular software or product manufacturer, why you feel entitled to something for free, why you think your really flimsy definition of "Value" determines a product be rated a 1 simply because you cannot afford it. I want a review of how the product functions, not it's price, your beliefs on how the product should be developed, or your beliefs on the company behind it. REVIEW THE PRODUCT, not the company.
-Josh (January 10, 2011, 07:59 AM)
--- End quote ---

+1 Josh!

Well put.

I've noticed a trend in most TECH reviews in that there is usually a lot of flaming about a specific product, most reviews appear to be from people who have never touched the product or only used it for about a half hour, and these same reviews even sometimes come off as a paid review which was discussed on DC before.
--- End quote ---


That is what pisses me off. So many reviewers do their reviews off of data sheets it seems. Tom's Hardware seems to be the exception.

Regarding:

I want a review of how the product functions, not it's price, your beliefs on how the product should be developed, or your beliefs on the company behind it.
--- End quote ---

Sometimes those are hard to separate. e.g. Lock-in from some vendors is a very real consideration, and hard to ignore.

f0dder:
That is what pisses me off. So many reviewers do their reviews off of data sheets it seems. Tom's Hardware seems to be the exception.-Renegade (January 10, 2011, 08:46 AM)
--- End quote ---
TomsHardware is OK, but the best site I've come across is definitely AnandTech - in-depth articles by People Who Aren't Morons(TM).

Bamse:
Flaming? The opposite have been the problem since Tech Review industry started many years ago. Trick is to limit personal opinion but deliver an article after same formula/template as all the others. So those who supply you/site with samples, including the handpicked ones!, continue to be happy - happy to advertise too. This setup works best with younger dudes who get to keep some of the stuff and can resell it later :) Short description of Tech reviews last 10 years, non-Techies own this area. Works much like Software rewards or journalism on crappy newspapers.

Some bigger sites might be exceptions since they have resources like paid staff to do actual reviewing - but I would still be careful trusting too much. Amazon reviews or even Neweggs can add useful info reviewer somehow forgot to mention. But non-Techies rarely have useful input though. They either cannot get anything to work or they are so amazed they succeeded getting it to work they praise the day product was launched. Insight know-how from experience or deep thinking comes from techies but hobbyist often knows more, unlike pro-reviewers they have no problem focusing on weak/unpopular features. That is why they bother posting anyway.

Josh:
While vendor lock-in is a real issue, and one which should be mentioned, I do not think stating that, and only that, in a product review is helping anyone. As I said, on amazon you see consumers rating products in a manner which proves most useful in determining which item to purchase, if it is even compatible with an accessory or primary product. My point is that while these are typically not "software" reviews, I wish that techs could use this style of posting when writing reviews.

Also note, this is not directed at larger review sites or entities, but individuals reviewing software. This is where you would normally see comments in the "feedback" or "discussions about product" section of a larger review or posting (I.E., CNET, Betanews, TomsHardware, etc). This issue does plaque larger reviews mentioned earlier in this paragraph, but nowhere near the extent to which it does the individual techie reviews.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page