
My Bizarre Stint as an Amazon Reviewer for Hire - MindGods
https://onezero.medium.com/my-bizarre-stint-as-an-amazon-reviewer-for-hire-260bd6f7a8fa
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cwkoss
I think the argument that doing fake reviews on Amazon is 'bad behavior' or
something to feel guilty about is laughable.

Amazon is one of the most well capitalized businesses in the known history of
the universe. Their credibility is not a public good. I think siphoning off
value from the Moloch of Bezos's empire is probably a net societal good.

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ebg13
> _I think the argument that doing fake reviews on Amazon is 'bad behavior' or
> something to feel guilty about is laughable._

People don't think that it's bad behavior because it sullies Amazon's good
name. People think that it's bad behavior because it's scamming other regular
people so that you can make a quick buck. That's like the definition of anti-
social behavior.

> _I think siphoning off value from the Moloch of Bezos 's empire is probably
> a net societal good._

"And who cares about all the other fools I'm personally scamming anyway! They
should have been born me!" Maybe we could try to think of any other way to
contribute to the decline of Amazon that _isn't_ directly scamming our
neighbors.

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ideals
If everyone already assumes reviews on Amazon are fake, is it unethical to
make paid reviews on Amazon?

If you lost your job from Covid, this sounds like a good way to make ends
meet.

The economics to make this work seem crazy. How many other people are being
paid for reviews like this guy on the same product? How many fake reviews do
you need to finally have _the edge_ on your competitors who are also pumping
their pages with fake reviews or is it endless stream of fake reviews? Where
does it end?

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ebg13
> _If everyone..._

This is a wildly false assumption based on being inside a tech bubble. In
rounded terms, the set of customers who assume that Amazon reviews are fake is
closer to nobody than to everybody.

> _is it unethical to make paid reviews on Amazon?_

Yes. The word for this is "fraud". Even if you believed that all of your
reviews were 100% honest and objective, you'd just be deceiving yourself too
if you didn't bear the cost.

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Havoc
Anybody know whether the kindle book section is also being actively gamed to
such an extent?

