Credibility Indicators

[SteveC]

One of our websites reviews software... we are given software, books, etc and asked to review them... which we do and we are brutally honest... over the years most companies accept our review for what it is... however we have in the past been asked to amend reviews, etc... by certain companies... this we never do, unless we review the software again and change our opinion.

[vangogh]

I've never specifically been asked to write a review, but every so often I've reviewed some product or service. I always try to balance the pros and cons and let the reader decide whether or not they want to try the product or service. Naturally some reviews are more favorable than others, but I always do my best to be honest.

So far people have seemed to appreciate the honesty.

[KristineS]

Writing reviews can be tough.

I think people appreciate balanced reviews. There are also a lot of ways to say a product isn't so great without actually coming out and saying that. Most people can read between the lines.

What I hate are sites that claim to have reviews and then don't really write anything of substance. One of the bloggers from the OBS is doing that now. He claims to be writing reviews of outdoor blogs and mostly what he's doing is just reciting the profile information from the person who writes the blog. If you're going to write a review, it should have some opinion in it. Otherwise it's just a waste of time.

[vangogh]

Not exactly a review then, is it? Sounds like he's going for the easy way out instead of writing an honest review.

[KristineS]

I think he may just not know what he's trying to do. The guy really isn't really that great of a blogger, and my guess is he just wanted to drum up some ties with other bloggers by offering them some free publicity. The problem is that what he's doing is actually worse than if he'd done nothing. It doesn't do anything to spotlight the blogs he mentions and it certainly doesn't make me want to go read them.

Writing an honest review would be more work, but it would also be worth more, both to him and to the bloggers he spotlights.

[vangogh]

Probably a case of looking for the easy way out. It's hard to write an original post day after day. Much easier to copy and past content someone else has written. Of course it's the original content that leads to a successful site, but those looking for the easy way out are more concerned with minimizing the work and then complaining about the lack of success.

[KristineS]

My feeling is that the guy was looking for links and thought an easy way to get some was to offer "reviews". He may have good intentions, but if he'd even done any elementary reading he'd have seen that most blog reviews are in depth. I don't know that he's doing any harm to the bloggers he spotlights, but he certainly isn't doing them any good.