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Comment by 6510 | Hacker News Reader

There is no need to write credible reviews at the moment. When this need arises they will all be exactly the same as real reviews. Bots are already writing entire articles. Creating templates from "real" reviews is barely a challenge.

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Many items from Amazon come with a “gift card for reviewing” note and they follow through (I tried it once because the item worked and was something I’d have left a review for anyway). Sometimes the gift card is worth more than the item.

Was my review a real one?

You know the practice of giving incentives for reviews was banned years ago by Amazon?

You can argue it was real but can still be used to skew the results. People are more likely to give good reviews plus review sooner before it breaks or they discover something wrong with it.

It definitely still happens because I received a follow up in the mail after a purchase on amazon, more than once, in just the past few weeks offering a gift card for a good review.

I would argue that paying for reviews is inherently dishonest. So is giving away items for free for reviews.

Fair enough. Though the item is still operational in its desired capacity and I’m still satisfied with it.

(I didn’t bother reviewing the subsequent one I purchased)

You know this practice is still going on, right?

Yes I do. I wasn't claiming the poster had somehow dreamed their experience or something, but rather that it was a overt violation of rules.

Completely fake reviews have always been banned on Amazon and this is an article about how rampant they are.

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