Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by JohnFen 1039 days ago
If the person doing the review isn't one that has already earned my trust, then the presence of affiliate links definitely makes me discount the review. The same for other forms of payment, such as them being provided with free items to review.

If the person doing the review has already earned my trust, my trust drops a notch, but I won't discount the review. I'll just be more vigilant about the reviewer into the future.
1 comments
nowooski 1039 days ago
Interesting distinction. Would they have earned your trust from a pre-affiliate era, or just from other non-review content you’ve consumed (assuming all of their review posts / YouTube videos have affiliate links?)
link
JohnFen 1039 days ago
Pre-affiliate. If they're using affiliate links, then they're effectively acting as salesmen, not honest reviewers.
link
dinkleberg 1039 days ago
Not necessarily. Let’s say they are using Amazon affiliates, if they consistently use those across the site regardless of if they reviewed the product as good or bad, then they aren’t inherently being salesman. Just opportunistic, as they can make some money in a way that benefits everyone.

But if it is only done on some, particularly those they rate highly, it does become questionable.

link
JohnFen 1039 days ago
True, it's a rule of thumb. But I think it holds in the overwhelming majority of cases -- even if the reviewer themselves honestly don't think so.

> Let’s say they are using Amazon affiliates, if they consistently use those across the site regardless of if they reviewed the product as good or bad, then they aren’t inherently being salesman.

I don't think that rules them out of acting as salesmen at all. Let's say I run a review site with the intention of making money from affiliate links. Mixing a couple of bad reviews in with the good reviews is an excellent tactic for increasing the trust my readers have in the good review, increasing the chances that they'll buy one of those through me.

In my view, if someone is making money by reviewing things, then it's far more likely than not that their reviews will be different because of that.

link