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About reviews

by seasoned
10 replies
  • OFF TOPIC
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I was going to bring up specifics, but....

I usually use sites like Amazon.com, and read various reviews pro and con to determine the validity of an item. USUALLY, it is something TANGIBLE that is self contained, and very OBJECTIVE. ALSO, they are somewhat popular, so you can overcome plants, bribes, vandettas, etc...

Well, NOW I am trying to find a self improvement course that will obviously be subjective. If I could interview the author I could probably in MINUTES determine if the course is likely valid, but I CAN'T. 8-( They often all have few reviews, etc...

HECK, I interview candidates to determine what they know, for jobs they want, and waste 30 minutes PER doing THAT! I THOUGHT about a written test, but I am fairer to them helping out with communication problems, and it avoids their looking elsewhere for the answers to defeat the test. In other words, I do it that way because I know NO better way to do it. Even M/S PROCTORS their certifications.

And lies are COMMON! HECK, even winning a championship really means NOTHING! HELL, one person with a certain ability that was BORN that way and never lost the ability now has a book supposedly teaching it. A book teaching one to fly, that is written by a hummingbird, really won't do ANYONE any good!

One company has DOZENS of sites pretending to review it. And I don't trust reviews if it is the ONLY product shown in its genre.

What would YOU do to find a good product with few, if any, reviews?

Steve
  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    Steve,
    Sadly, just like here in the WSO forum,Amazon has a lot of people that request and/or pay for fake reviews.
    Nowadays you can actually trust very few people.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Yep kim, but I figured out a good startegy to do it IF there are enough reviews on a popular product. Amazon may not be the ONLY place I go. But yeh, I have seen all the scams.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Steve, just as there are fake positive reviews, there are fake negative reviews. It's really hard to find honest reviews. Your best bet might be to ask for recommendations and listen to those you trust. Are you looking for something for yourself, or something to promote? Are you looking for step-by-step courses or books to read on the subject? If I knew what kind of self-improvement you were interested in I might be able to offer some suggestions. Feel free to PM me if you prefer.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      Amazon is perhaps the least credible source of reviews, and it is best to simply ignore them for either purchases or promotions. There are many excellent books (and products as well) with few Amazon reviews or even none at all. Consider some of the more objective book reviews listed in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Barnes & Noble, and professional associations.
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by myob View Post

        Amazon is perhaps the least creditable source of reviews, and it is best to simply ignore them for either purchases or promotions. There are many excellent books (and products as well) with few Amazon reviews or even none at all. Consider some of the more objective book reviews listed in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Barnes & Noble, and professional associations.
        They are FAR from the LEAST credible. I have seen about 4 METHODS that are FAR less credible and only TWO even have the ABILITY to be used on Amazon. I already mentioned one, which is the product link farms that have fake reviews. THAT is the least credible! One other is one that many here are familiar with, but it hits too close, so I will not say it. The third could become political, so I won't say it. The fourth way is bribed links. The LAST two of those can be used on amazon.

        Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      Steve, just as there are fake positive reviews, there are fake negative reviews. It's really hard to find honest reviews. Your best bet might be to ask for recommendations and listen to those you trust. Are you looking for something for yourself, or something to promote? Are you looking for step-by-step courses or books to read on the subject? If I knew what kind of self-improvement you were interested in I might be able to offer some suggestions. Feel free to PM me if you prefer.
      Yeah, I know there can be fake negative as well as positive reviews. I look at a lot of both. Some positive reviews may be like "well written, entertaining, etc", and that is GARBAGE! It has VERY little to do with the value of the information. SOME might be like "This business book didn't tell me how to build a restaurant, and exactly what was needed THERE", and that is ALSO garbage! It is an unrealistic expectation that wasn't even HINTED at being promised.

      But the self improvement I was looking for was improving memory, etc... I DO know a LOT of ways, and perhaps 98% of all courses only cover part of THEM and NOTHING else, but you know how things are. EVEN something as simple as google has a lot of twists and turns, etc....

      So I am NOT interested in the PEG system, visualization, patterns, repetition, LOCI, or association. Some VALID and NOVEL ways to do them might be nice, but I could probably take what I know about them, which represents HUNDREDS of books by dozens of authors, and boil them all down and add my own stuff, and make a book smaller than most out there.

      BTW it would be for ME, not to resell, unless I really LOVE it and feel it fits somewhere. Heck, the author of a HIGHLY successful program to automate some stuff died, and his company made it opensource, complete with all courses they ever provided! Of course the catch is that it can be slow. I went through 12% of one of their french vocabulary courses, and that took HOURS! It depends on a standard progression of memory retainment, and repeating things about the time they are likely to have been forgotten. It really shouldn't take that long.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
        Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

        But the self improvement I was looking for was improving memory, etc...
        Ah ... sorry Steve, I can't help you with that one. It's an area I have never delved into, but perhaps I should. If you do find something you love, let me know. I may look into it too ... if I don't forget.
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      • Profile picture of the author Big Rob
        Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

        .

        But the self improvement I was looking for was improving memory, etc..
        Steve , this is of great interest to me, personally.
        My father-in law just passed recently, after a 3 year bout with Alzheimers.
        My wife is worried for our health
        Please keep this thread updated with your findings
        Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

        .
        BTW it would be for ME, not to resell, unless I really LOVE it and feel it fits somewhere. Heck, the author of a HIGHLY successful program to automate some stuff died, and his company made it opensource, complete with all courses they ever provided! Of course the catch is that it can be slow. I went through 12% of one of their french vocabulary courses, and that took HOURS! It depends on a standard progression of memory retainment, and repeating things about the time they are likely to have been forgotten. It really shouldn't take that long.

        Steve
        Would you mind sharing the link?

        Thanks
        Rob
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        • Profile picture of the author seasoned
          Originally Posted by Big Rob View Post

          Steve , this is of great interest to me, personally.
          My father-in law just passed recently, after a 3 year bout with Alzheimers.
          My wife is worried for our health
          Please keep this thread updated with your findings
          I DID do a study on this, even before my mother was WAY too far gone. There are nutritional things that can help. A lot of metals can make things worse. There ARE some drugs and herbs that can literally add YEARS to a persons useful life, by boosting mental ability. Some were proven in real clinical trials.

          One KEY part though, that apparently can help, and is FREE, is LEARNING! ESPECIALLY if t is a moderate challenge, and used. They are unsure if this stops it, or merely lessens the percentage of obvious degradation, but evidence suggests it is the former.

          MOST don't keep things up. And a LOT of the progression happens AFTER a person stops working.

          I TRIED to help my mother out, but she was one that never was persistent, and would rather try pretty weird things.

          Would you mind sharing the link?

          Thanks
          Rob
          OK, I just downloaded the latest source, just in case. The original author died 3 years ago, but it was last updated 7/5/2012! The main distribution was last updated 4/6/2012. Open source can be a nice thing! One thing about it, it is free so nobody can accuse me of an affiliate link.

          Home*| MemoryLifter - Educational Learning Software

          Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Halcyon
    The internet may have indexed human knowledge but it blows when it comes to delivering that information accurately.

    The best reviews are found offline or in peer reviewed journals. Since you're looking for a memory enhancement product, perhaps a few journals with articles on cognitive skills might point you in the right direction. I know my Cleveland Library card allows me access to the journal databases, so perhaps yours does as well.

    Peer journals aren't fool proof but at least you don't have to wonder about the motivation of the writer. Also since you're not interested in the PEG system, visualization, patterns, repetition, LOCI, or association; journals may be your best bet for learning about new techniques and/or research.

    In the end though, you're probably going to have to step out on faith and trust your gut.
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