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Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

It’s s sad state of affairs for product search. I do the same (site:reddit) and I’m almost certain most people do too.

Google search I guess is good for entertainment search or “buzzy” things like whatever is trending on the trendsetting social networks of the day, but regular search is too spammy and farmed stuff. Often it’s junk.

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I do this for almost everything not just products. Reddit is a useful place to find real humans discussing something on the internet, but also at a simple beginner friendly level. Usually there are more specialized forums (esp for something like espresso) but they require excessive time or expertise to understand. On the other hand if you want a deep discussion reddit can be hit or miss.

True there are niche blogs for enthusiast hobbyist interests, but sometimes I need to find a good <some household item>. Reddit’s got better info than most non-reddit google results.

I don’t think most people do, because if they did, Reddit would also be gamed.

Not saying it is, but, how would you know it isn't?

I imagine that either "they" (the advertisers/companies) have either already figured this out and are learning how to leave grassroots-looking comments, or they will pretty soon.

I don’t know for sure, and I bet some of it is gamed (all the popular AMA type and celebrity worship or marketing crap sure is), but I think I’ve been able to glean some real comments in the niche sections, based on the history of people giving recommendations or multiple threads over the years with similar conclusions.

I think it's more the bot upvoting comments that happen to be favorable to your product than actually leaving fake comments.

Reddit is definitely being gamed, started 1-2 years ago. And it's a lot harder / impossible to identify fake recommendations, so I'm very suspicious of it.

Reddit is certainly gamed. Not on everything, not as widespread as SEO, but I've definitely seen it before.

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