@clive not to hold Google blameless, but this looks like something the FTC should regulate; if there's no hands-on with a product, it should need to be disclosed, similarly, if there's no empirical testing, a publisher shouldn't be allowed to claim a lab was involved.
Just like affiliate links and sponsored content must be disclosed.
#ConsumerReports sill exists, y'all. It's still the gold standard of product review.
And for tech products beyond CR's ambit, I guess I'd use sites that have been around a while and have not (SFAIK) been hollowed out: #Wired, #CNet, etc.
@clive that's been pretty obvious for a while. It takes a fair amount of scrutiny to figure out which reviews are utile and which ones equine dung.
Google is really setting itself up for disruption, but I don't know if it will be a single vendor or just a disintegration into smaller enclaves in typical SV de/consolidating cyclical fashion.
@clive I knew online "reviews" were bad. I didn't know they were THAT bad! Fascinating article that explains how "big brand" websites are actively pushing total garbage, overpriced products that they've never actually tested - while not even mentioning better-value products that actually work 🙄
I would love a full list of all of the sites they link to here https://detailed.com/google-control/ and make a @Mojeek focus search to filter them out when searching for reviews
@clive the part about Molekule is hilarious. A few years back when I was between jobs, I started writing stuff that's now being written by AI, for pennies, and one of the articles they assigned to me was a review of a Molekule air filter. Obviously I never laid hands on it
@clive I’ve noticed this many times. So many sites just produce listicles with affiliate links for every major option as a “best choice” for some
Obscure use case.
Best mattress for catholic side sleepers with maple allergies: acorn bed
And no evidence they actually tested anything themselves
@clive So interesting! Just yesterday I was looking at reviews of a specific garment and was struck by how they all seemed the same from site to site. Same choices, same "what we like" and "what we don't like" about each one (and every site happening to be "updated" on the very day I was looking). Now I know why! Thanks for sharing!
@clive there really are no honest reviews anymore. Between Google ads and AI written reviews I'm usually persuaded into buying a brand and discover later.
They have gotten very good at looking legitimate. I think Amazon must be paying for some of them.
@clive As I said earlier, it sounds pretty hard to detect "inauthentic' reviews in any automated way.
It is very trendy to lay everything at Google's feet but I think we have to ask what any other automated system could do better. Remember, product reviews that are largely plagiarized are going to largely look like the original.
Where this could ultimately go is that we all want human curation again, but of course how much are we willing to pay for that?
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