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Reviews Without Product

JB

JB

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I have a little rant here. I know I should probably put it in the Official Rant Thread, but I am a dictator what can I say.

Since this site has gone live our hits have grown every day and we have you the members to thank for that. We get calls all day long for people wanting us to review stuff and most of the time we will oblige. We only have a few rules.

1. We must try the product first to do a review.
2. We will only do an honest review.
3. We will not take money for a positive review.

If someone wants to buy an ad, that is up to them, but I wont do what a few other sites out there do every day. I want it to be as honest as it can be.

You would not believe how many companies are used to just sending over a press release and some images and have the "site owner or blogger" push out a review. They just dont seem to understand that to me, that is not a review. That is a profile or media release.

My favorite is a call I got just this morning from a company and website that will remain nameless. They wanted us to do positive reviews on their products in exchange, they will pay for banner advertising on THP. That is their "arranged agreement" with other sites. I could not believe it.

I just want you guys to know that we will continue to do reviews the way we are supposed to.
 
I like your business ethics Josh.
 
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Thanks guys but I just want people to know I did not write that for a pat on the back. Just to let people know that are reviews are legit. Writing my rant was also slightly therapeutic.
 
but hey, if their product actually turns out to be good, you can have your cake and eat it too? if after testing, it sucks, turn them down.
 
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Mike. Many Dont want us to test them. They want to send some images, and a press release and have you do a review.
 
i see. well, you could always tell them you'll rate the piccies they send you, haha!

seriously though, the owner at a computer site i go to does the same as you. years ago,AMD sent him a cpu to review,and it sucked at all the benchmarks. go figure, no more cpus from AMD. he doesn't care though, so many products to review out there, and he can sleep at night.

and this guy makes part of his income(the rest from advertising on his site) from selling the freebies he gets from the various manufacturers, so that makes his road even higher.
 
The 'no product' reviews reek of two things (one or both):

1) - They have no faith in their own product

2) - They're cheap (or broke) as hell and want to sell every single unit, rather than make some available for review.

I've seen that stuff before, even in my industry, trying to get me to spec a product without having ever laid hands on it. They'd rather offer to send me on a fishing trip than to give me some type of product to bang on to make sure it'll be up to the task.
 
You guys are both right.

They use advertising speak. This was a quote from earlier today.

You telling me you need a product to review makes me seem like you dont trust my 31 years in the industry"

I said "nobody is disputing your past achievements, but each product stands on its own merrit"

Fine, we will send it out, but its kind of like a slap in the face to our work.

Sir, you asked THP to review your product, we did not ask you. I just cannot in my own mind review a product without trying it. My morals come into play. If you would like to buy ad space, that is up to you, but I wont review a product like that.

I understand. I just dont see why all of the other sites can. It will be there on Friday.

This one was a shocker. It was not even a major brand nor the one I was speaking about in my original post. Just some people do not get it.
 
Sales people. Enough said. :vampire:
 
i wouldn't mind a list of the sites that took him up on his initial proposal. :devil:
 
NorthVanMike said:
i wouldn't mind a list of the sites that took him up on his initial proposal. :devil:
Click to expand...

That's what occurred to me. It can't be standard industry practice unless the sites are cooperating.

And Jeez, it's not like you are in business to slam products. All they have to do is read the reviews you've already got.
 
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