Fediverse @lemmy.world technomad @slrpnk.net 2 mo. ago

Are there any communities dedicated to product reviews?

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/13148749

Is that something people would even need/want here?

27 comments

This is necessary now that Reddit is astroturfed to high heaven. One benefit of this being a small community is we haven’t caught the attention of the SEO whores and product shills.
- I agree about reddit, but unfortunately, I don't think lemmy is free from astroturfing. Myself and others have noticed that there are many users on lemmy who seem to be purposefully antagonistic towards other lemmy users. The possible reason may be to drive people away from lemmy and hinder its growth.
  
  I've experienced pro-reddit astroturfing on lemmy. I posted this criticism of reddit on the reddit@lemmy.world comm, and it was heavily astroturfed and then deleted by the mod for a bogus reason.
  
  A year later, someone used that post to attack me while insinuating purely from the title that I was at fault because the reddit admins would never do something like that (despite all the public information to the contrary).
  
  I’ve experienced pro-reddit astroturfing on lemmy. I posted this criticism of reddit on the reddit@lemmy.world comm, and it was heavily astroturfed and then deleted by the mod for a bogus reason.
  
  I think I remember this.
  
  Federated alternatives like Lemmy: I grew up on the internet and am far more tech/internet savvy than the average person, and I find federated options confusing and complicated. I also read that they're very complex and not scalable on the technical end as well. They don't seem like a viable option that can gain major traction. I'll keep watching though, maybe I'll be wrong.
  
  I really dislike the bloated UI they're all using, but it looks like there are solutions on the way.
  
  I'm wondering, is this still your opinion?
  
  there are many users on lemmy who seem to be purposefully antagonistic towards other lemmy users.
  
  Nuh-uh! Shut up stupid!
  
  /joking.
- That's kind of why I think there would need to be certain rules like 'no sponsored content'
  
  I'd like it to be for products that people like, but maybe just need some help being improved (or just having fun speculating about how it could be better maybe).
- Permanently Deleted
What type of products? There is !buyitforlife@slrpnk.net, and if you are looking for consumer electronics there is !hardware@hardware.watch
- I'm just going to copy a comment, because it looks like the crosspost didn't update the edit from the original post...
  
  Copied comment:
  
  buyitforlife is a fantastic community, but I’m not sure it fits what I’m talking about because it’s kind of specific to exclusive products that are meant to last. I’m imagining something that’s covers a more broad range of products. Stipulations might include things like:
  
  -reviews
  
  -design speculation
  
  -improvements
  
  -collaboration
  
  -development
  
  -creation
  
  -also, no sponsored/commercialized products!
  
  (development and creation are super ambitious, but I’d like to include them just because)
  
  I’m very analytical about product design, especially when it comes to electronics and technology, and I like to imagine ways that things could work better or be designed better. I just think it would be cool to have a place to discuss things like that. I also feel like it can be difficult to trust reviews that come from one source, so having a federated collection to start building might be a really useful resource
- Anybody know why the hardware one doesn’t work for me?
  
  All the other comments except from that one are from alien.top (Reddit users turned into bots), which your instance is defederated from.
I guess it's time for you to create one. Feel free to post it in !newcommunities@lemmy.world too
- done, let me know what you think!
  
  https://slrpnk.net/c/product_reviews
  
  please do use this syntax !<community_name>@<instance>, this redirects users to the specified community within their instance.
  
  !product_reviews@slrpnk.net
Closest I can think of might be the !buyitforlife@slrpnk.net !buyitforlife@sh.itjust.works communities
I've lost trust in reviews in general but am interested in repairable products. For TVs/screens I like rtings. Youtube covers a lot of products.

What kind of stuff are you thinking about?
- I'm thinking generally about electronics, because I like tech stuff, but I don't see a reason to limit it to just that category. The idea of a federated review system is kind of what I'm getting at, with the posibility of encompassing things like design, collaboration, speculation for ways to improve, (repairability would be a great thing to cover as well, but I'm not extrememly savvy when it comes to repair!)
  
  I think that a federated library of product reviews/discussions could be a great resource.
  
  Are you still thinking about making one?
- I agree. The best option now is to look for specific sources of trustworthy reviews.
  
  Regarding rtings, the two monitors I purchased myself had completely different results from the monitor RTINGS showed. What does that say? RTINGS is totally unreliable? I got ridiculously unlucky? https://hardforum.com/threads/why-are-ips-monitors-popular-the-ips-glow-ruins-a-third-of-the-screen-along-with-any-color-advantage-it-may-have.2032852/post-1045814690

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