Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Because there's more money interested in subverting or eliminating such efforts than there is in seeing them run well.

Ideology won't even save you there: it doesn't matter if you want to run such a site with editorial integrity and all the trimmings. The folks who want you silenced outnumber you and have more resources than you do.




I don't think this is right - Consumer Reports exists, for example, and I don't see any attempts of silencing it.


How exactly does a moneyed interest subvert a review aggregator?


Sites that feature product reviews inevitably get paid by product companies to filter unfavorable reviews and also surface paying products.


Yeah, that's bad, but how does that subvert an honest site that doesn't take payments or free products?



The whole point of a review aggregator is to find and spotlight the credible reviewers.


Honest sites always succumb. That's why this question is being asked in the first place.


How about the issue of astroturfing or botting?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: