|
|
|
|
|
|
by matthewbauer
3351 days ago
|
|
|
I wonder what the best solution to this is? Amazon has "Verified Purchase" on reviews that ensure the person at least has bought the thing they are reviewing. I could see a system that is "Verified Watching" which confirms the person has watched the thing all the way through. This would be easier to implement on something like Netflix where that data is already available, but you could probably work some verification process through third parties with IMDB. Of course, this wouldn't stop people from just sitting through a showing and manipulating the votes but it certainly makes it harder. |
|
|
Many of the spam reviewers are still a Verified Purchase through Amazon and were just reimbursed after (it doesn't actually provide much benefit because VP is a poor proxy for legitimate customer). I always turn it off and wish they allowed making this the default.
There are too many products, office chairs are one example, where buying on Amazon is more expensive than buying elsewhere. So in this case the verified purchase reviews are not from the consumers that did the best research... not necessarily the people you want to give credit to. Ikea products on Amazon are another example.
Still Amazon reviews have de facto standardized as the central hub for product reviews on the web. I might never buy orange juice from Amazon when it's much easier and faster to grab at the grocery store, but before I plop down $8 for a jug of organic, all natural, etc from a brand I've never heard of, it's nice to be able to validate it a little bit.
If they expanded verified purchase to include other sources, eg uploading a receipt to prove verification, then this would change my stance. However, does that really align with their business?
I think verified watching is a similar circumstance.