App and Hardware (3rd Party) Reviews?

[yojitani]

I'm sure I'm not the first to suggest this but I couldn't find a thread about it here (wrong search terms maybe?): is there a reason MR doesn't have a specific forum (or subforum) for app reviews? I think it would be pretty useful to be able to have a forum where users can post reviews of commonly used/new applications out there. While there are plenty of comments all over the boards about various apps, to find useful ones, you have to go through a lot of search results of posts that just mention the app, or that are on a completely different topic. I know that a review forum would be more of a headache for iphone/ipad apps because there are just so many of them. My thought would be that the forum would be something like PRSI where users would have to have a certain number of posts before they could comment.

Something similar might be useful for hardware like hard drives, ram, graphics cards (for MP users).

 

[GGJstudios]

It's easy to do a simple search for the name of the app and "review" to locate a review, or simply search for the name of the app to find related discussion threads. It's faster and far more efficient to use search for things like this, rather than re-structure the forum. Also, it's entirely possible that a newbie to the forum is a long-time Mac user with extensive experience and therefore, qualified to write an excellent app review. Restricting them from posting would be counter-productive to the needs of the forums.

 

[yojitani]

It's easy to do a simple search for the name of the app and "review" to locate a review, or simply search for the name of the app to find related discussion threads. It's faster and far more efficient to use search for things like this, rather than re-structure the forum. Also, it's entirely possible that a newbie to the forum is a long-time Mac user with extensive experience and therefore, qualified to write an excellent app review. Restricting them from posting would be counter-productive to the needs of the forums.

I agree with your point about restricting newbies. I was looking at ways to prevent shill reviews.

Like I said though, searching doesn't bring up the results very easily. What prompted this thought was that I have been using two products (Bento 3 and Soho Notes) for a few months and wanted to add some thoughts on both. The problem is that finding other relevant discussions is not always easy (there's a lot on Bento, admittedly). Other users may not find your comments either. Perhaps a wiki (not MR necessarily) would be more helpful?

 

[Doctor Q]

There are better websites for reviews, where you know who the author is. A well-meaning anonymous forum user can't easily be distinguished from somebody promoting their own product. Forum members are welcome to discuss software and hardware in forum threads and take what others post at face value or with a grain of salt based on forum status (length of membership, number of posts), but we have no plans to identify particular product discussion threads as reviews.

That said, our editors do choose to review products they think are significant from a news standpoint.

 

[yojitani]

There are better websites for reviews, where you know who the author is.

Yes, there are but in most instances the reviewers spend very little real-world time with the application in question. The good thing about the bits of feedback you can find on MR is that it comes from users who use the particular product on a daily basis (or at least pretty regularly). I thought it would be useful to have it in one place, rather than scattered around the boards. I can see, of course, how such a forum would pose all sorts of logistical problems.

I'm curious though. When you say that you (MR) "have no plans to identify particular product discussion threads as reviews," are you indicating that if a thread were identified as a review it would become a different publication type from other forums? Am I correct in sensing that sanctioned 'review' forums could in fact introduce certain legal issues?... or am I reading too much into it? (I'm curious in an academic sense, not an argumentative sense, btw)

 

[Doctor Q]

I'm curious though. When you say that you (MR) "have no plans to identify particular product discussion threads as reviews," are you indicating that if a thread were identified as a review it would become a different publication type from other forums? Am I correct in sensing that sanctioned 'review' forums could in fact introduce certain legal issues?... or am I reading too much into it? (I'm curious in an academic sense, not an argumentative sense, btw)

1. I don't understand what "different publication type" means.
2. No, no legal issues. It's just a different business than we're currently in.

 

[yojitani]

1. I don't understand what "different publication type" means.
2. No, no legal issues. It's just a different business than we're currently in.

1. I mean the difference between articles and comments, blogs and comments. I can see how, if a forum were called, say, 'product reviews' that the reviews therein could be considered a different publication type from the random reviews and comments found around MR, possibly opening up the possibility for claims of defamation etc. But I guess that wasn't on your mind at all!

2. Fair enough.