

Belkin caught using Amazon Mechanical Turk to post fake reviews for its products - vaksel
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/01/17/belkin-paying-65-cents-for-good-reviews-on-newegg-and-amazon/

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mattchew
I don't trust Belkin products myself. A few years ago Belkin sold a router
that would periodically override your web browsing and display an ad for
parental control software in your browser instead:

<http://news.cnet.com/2100-1039_3-5104863.html>

That said, it is good of palish to point out that this newest hasn't been 100%
verified.

~~~
bestes
I used to think Belkin was good. I like the clean look and design of most of
their products. Then, they pulled the stunt you mentioned above. Now, just
when I think the moral decay has been flushed out over time, we get this new
story.

They have become the Arthur Anderson of computer companies in my mind.

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palish
This would be an effective way to tarnish the reputation of a competitor.

~~~
barrkel
I presume you mean: enter a job in mechanical turk to praise one's
competitor's target, and then tip off a journalist?

Because otherwise, it's just dumb.

~~~
vaksel
more like use Mechanical Turk to have 100 people leave negative comments on
competitor product

~~~
mattmaroon
That seems far more effective, since the vast majority of router buyers don't
read any publication in which this story would run.

~~~
eru
How about doing both? Hire 70 to write negative reviews, and 30 for positive.
Tip off about the positive ones.

~~~
lallysingh
You're hired. Any relation to this fellow? <http://xkcd.com/125/>

Just remember to use different accounts & language between the negative &
positive reviews. Either way, be really careful to anonymize your tipoff, in
case it backfires.

~~~
eru
No relation. Just years of playing Diplomacy.

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diN0bot
this is done tons by big corporations. usually they pay a shop overseas to
make accounts and post false praise. this is something i've looked extensibly
into before, so when i get back tonight i'll go through my old notebooks and
post some links.

~~~
sam_in_nyc
That would be much appreciated

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russell
Apparently it is common for an author to create fake reviews for his book on
Amazon. Ethically this is the pits. Somehow we need to evolve a reputation
system so that we can trust reviews.

A side note: a while back Charles Stross (SF writer) had a thread on his blog
where writers posted the best Amazon 1 start ratings of their books. The 1
star guys can get pretty creative.

~~~
andreyf
I always look at the 1-star reviews first - they're often the most insightful:

[http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0262011530/ref=dp_top_c...](http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0262011530/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_pop_hist_1?_encoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar)

 _The only pro for this book is the wealth of information. The main con is
that all of this wealth is presented in a haphazard way. I couldn't understand
most of it. This text would be OK as an occasional reference, but nothing
more. It is definitely overrated._

 _Just as an example, data directed programming, the way it is presented in
the book, is counterintuitive. Operator overloading in C++ makes much more
sense, even if its syntax is a little tougher than Scheme's._

 _And finally, what's with the jokes? When they mentioned Microshaft, I
realized that the authors are just two immature jerks. Don't get this book._

~~~
dfranke
Sometimes it's particularly fun to read clueless 1-star reviews of classic
books. ISTR there was a 1-star review of Newton's _Principia_ complaining that
he bought to help him with his high school physics course and it was way too
confusing.

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zspade
Precisely why only those who have purchased the product from a site should be
allowed to post reviews for it.

I know there would be less reviews left, but I'd rather know that the review
I'm reading came from a real person who really bought the product.

------
daleharvey
I dont know, im naive enough to hope that a competitor wouldnt do this, at the
same time I dont believe at belkin would do this in such an obvious manner.

~~~
inovica
Sometimes things are doing by misguided employees in the false assumption that
they are helping. It's not the company that is doing the deed often but an
overzealous employee who doesn't think of his/her actions. We experienced this
with forum posting from a competitor. When we found and I talked with the
owner he was as confused as me, but he phoned me back a few days later to say
that he had tracked it down to an employee. He apologised and contacted the
forums to remove the posts - I had a lot more respect for them after that.
We're still competitors and fight hard, but fair, with one another

