In the early-ish days of the consumer internet, consumers had a new and huge information advantage over companies. People moved from relying on brand name, to reading online reviews. Often finding niche brands which they had otherwise not heard of.
Now, in 2021, that experience is flipped on its head. Amazon reviews are gamed and cannot be trusted. Companies build niche brands like fly-by-night companies, and the lesser known brands have a very high chance of being both seriously inferior, and also short lived.
At least, this has been my experience, and the experience of some others.
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And as further anecdotal proof that things have come full circle, my elderly mother in law keeps getting tricked by Amazon purchases. "The reviews were good," she'll say before returning something.
Why do you imagine the NYT isn't taking a bigger paycheck for saying the same thing the fake Amazon reviews are saying? We live in a world where brands are trash. They're built by the lowest bidder with the absolute cheapest parts ("the Toyota Way", heavy airquotes), and packaged with lies (marketing). Where did this idea come from that it's only the foreign resellers of Chinese products that are posting fake Amazon reviews, when it is absolutely the same case with household brand name companies? Go to Fakespot and look up random brand name companies you would normally "trust" and see what how Fakespot rates the company. We are WAY past the point where the vast majority of companies (governments, organizations, etc) aren't using these types of mass propaganda campaigns. A brand name in the general case is no more trustworthy than some imitator.
NYT's entire value proposition is that you can trust them. Amazon's is (mostly) that they'll get you what you asked for, fast and cheap. A bad Amazon review seems to redound, for whatever reason, mostly to the discredit of the particular seller, not Amazon. NYT therefore has more incentive to give you accurate reviews.
I am not inspired to trust Fakespot given their privacy policy.
"When you use our Services, we automatically collect the following information about you (collectively referred to as “Personal Information”):
Your device information which includes, but is not limited to, information about your web browser, IP address, time zone, and some of the cookies that are installed on your device.
Individual web pages or products that you view, what websites or search terms referred you to the Service, and information about how you interact with the Service.
Your first and last name
Your email address
Your username associated with your Apple ID or Google Account
Your account information such as your account name, account password, other credentials, security questions, and confirmation codes"
Now, in 2021, that experience is flipped on its head. Amazon reviews are gamed and cannot be trusted. Companies build niche brands like fly-by-night companies, and the lesser known brands have a very high chance of being both seriously inferior, and also short lived.
At least, this has been my experience, and the experience of some others.
[edit]
And as further anecdotal proof that things have come full circle, my elderly mother in law keeps getting tricked by Amazon purchases. "The reviews were good," she'll say before returning something.