Isn’t this the exact same thing Yelp has been reported of doing?
Seems like any form of reviews — Amazon, Yelp, TrustPilot — or even independent reviews (that are often given a product in exchange for “their honest review”, can’t be trusted anymore.
Someone will find a way to game the system.
We’ve gone from being ignorant, to being informed, back to being ignorant again — or worse, ignorantly mislead.
Amazon reviews could potentially be salvageable. The way I see it, their problem is that items sell more when they have a plurality of reviews, so there's a disincentive for the platform to take down positive reviews (because they drive revenue). But Amazon is a platform that depends on repeat business (hence the existence of Prime) so it also has an incentive to ensure that the totality of a product's reviews give a useful idea of the product's pros and cons.
On the other hand, sites that let you remove bad reviews or showcase good ones are running a 21st-century protection racket.
Seems like any form of reviews — Amazon, Yelp, TrustPilot — or even independent reviews (that are often given a product in exchange for “their honest review”, can’t be trusted anymore.
Someone will find a way to game the system.
We’ve gone from being ignorant, to being informed, back to being ignorant again — or worse, ignorantly mislead.