Are there biased posts....

[Mikeyc]

The stuff I get free is the stuff I don't talk about. I'm probably Menzerna's biggest fan boy and I'm here to tell ya that I pay dearly for ALL of it! No matter how much I tried to get Home Depot to give me some grout sponges in exchange for a favorable review the wouldn't do it. They insisted that they had never heard of Autopia! The nerve of them!

:werd:



The items I post about more often are the ones that I've paid for. 6" Edge Pads, Edge ShMitts, Zymol waxes are all items that I paid for out of my own pocket.



I actually recently received a product to try from one company and I really was unhappy with my experience with it. I emailed the company to let them know why I didn't like it and now they're changing it. So, giving away free samples can also serve as beta testing to some degree.

 

[TortoiseAWD]

FWIW, we take a very dim view of shills here at Autopia, and if they're found out, they end up on the very short express train to Banville. Most are too obvious, and are banned quickly, but we've had a couple of shills that have managed to survive 30 or 40 posts before the pattern of advertising starts to appear.



If you have reason to believe a user is shilling, please contact one of the moderators and report it.



Tort

moderator

spam-hunter

shill-killer

 

[TigerMike]

Shilling definitely exists, but (unless downright blatant spmming) it is typically in a very very sly way from some folks. In a nutshell, it's usually in the form of free product, first trials, merchandise, etc, for continued positive posting and recommending only that product line in nearly every post. It can go unnoticed for a long long time (or forever) as it can be seen as just an over anxious or excited user of the products, but it does definitely exist.

 

[Eliot Ness]

.......Isn't it funny that people that claim to have alot of experience, have got their experience from what experienced detailers have said. It would be nice if people would say "I have read" instead of acting like they have been detailing for a while. If somebody is looking for help on a product that I don't have any experience on, I always say, I have read or I have heard that X product will work or maybe not work for you.



I know that most here don't have a problem admitting if they are not sure about something, but there are others who have never properly detailed a car, but they can sure tell you how. :grinno:

Bryan, those are the armchair detailers



If there's a product question that I'm not familiar with, but have read a review or a tip about, I'll try to post a link. That way if they have more questions they can ask the person who has actually used or tested the product.



To the OP's question, I don't think Autopia has much of a problem with members posting biased reviews for monetary gain. There might be some reviews/reviewers that I question, but I don't think it's very widespread.

 

[Bigpoppa3346]

I think Autopia is a very fair site. Look over at MOL, if you see a non-Meguiars product get mentioned or praised, they might delete that post. There are some over-zealous people on this board (Zaino guys), but I don't have a problem with them as they are enthusiastic about the excellent results that they get from them. I do have issues when someone brings their favorite brand up in a thread dedicated to a completely different brand or topic.

 

[Mikeyc]

I think Autopia is a very fair site. Look over at MOL, if you see a non-Meguiars product get mentioned or praised, they might delete that post. There are some over-zealous people on this board (Zaino guys), but I don't have a problem with them as they are enthusiastic about the excellent results that they get from them. I do have issues when someone brings their favorite brand up in a thread dedicated to a completely different brand or topic.

Good point! Not every forum lets you talk about any product like Autopia does. There are plenty of forums where you are restricted to talking only about certain products.

 

[xnavyguy]

I have tried a few different products over the last year or so. It is fun to see how other products work and some that don't work for me so well. I feel the best way to try out other products without putting out alot of cash, it to trade out products with others. We are lucky here in the Atlanta area to have some great detailers to get together with and swap experiences and products with.



Isn't it funny that people that claim to have alot of experience, have got their experience from what experienced detailers have said. It would be nice if people would say "I have read" instead of acting like they have been detailing for a while. If somebody is looking for help on a product that I don't have any experience on, I always say, I have read or I have heard that X product will work or maybe not work for you.



I know that most here don't have a problem admitting if they are not sure about something, but there are others who have never properly detailed a car, but they can sure tell you how. :grinno:

Very good post GMB :bigups



I visit several different forums and see some great advice posted by experienced detailers. Then I see some really bad advice posted by people who you can tell that they know nothing about the subject being discussed but are trying to appear like they "know it all". The sad thing is that if the person reading this bad advice doesn't know any better and tries it out, they could cause serious issues to their finish.



As for the original posters question about bias and shills, I still remember a really funny thread on another forum some time ago. This clown was running around for months pushing a product saying how great it was to anyone who would listen and constantly posting links to the sellers website. Turns out the entire time this joker was pushing the product, he had never even used it on his car. :lol



The nice thing about Autopia is that you get a very broad range of inputs about different products and you can usually tell the difference between who's honest and who's full of it.

 

[Scottwax]

Look over at MOL, if you see a non-Meguiars product get mentioned or praised, they might delete that post.

If I owned a company like Meguiars and sponsered a forum, I'd limit the discussions to Meguiars products as well. When I want to know the ins and outs of Meguiars products and what they have in the pipeline, I know where to go. When I want to discuss or learn about a multitude of products, I come here.

 

[fdizzle]

hey scott,



i cant beleive you havent tried aquawax . . . sorry to thread jack but . . . .



i was gonna order some aquawax from autogeek this week - Ill send you enough for a few coats if you want, just pm or email me.

 

[fdizzle]

If I owned a company like Meguiars and sponsered a forum, I'd limit the discussions to Meguiars products as well. When I want to know the ins and outs of Meguiars products and what they have in the pipeline, I know where to go. When I want to discuss or learn about a multitude of products, I come here.

its just like on autogeek . . .their forum is fairly limited to the products they sell. scott is absolutly right (imagine the odds . . . :lol ). Thats why i always come here when i want a variety of oppinions. . . . . But if I want info on a certain product, in addition to posting here I do my research on other places too. The more info you have before you buy the better your overall exiperience will be. . . thats just my .02

 

[3Dog]

its just like on autogeek . . .their forum is fairly limited to the products they sell. scott is absolutly right (imagine the odds . . . :lol ). Thats why i always come here when i want a variety of oppinions. . . . . But if I want info on a certain product, in addition to posting here I do my research on other places too. The more info you have before you buy the better your overall exiperience will be. . . thats just my .02

The thing is at least 3 product lines they have taken on in the last 6 months is because people there were talking about them.

 

[fdizzle]

The thing is at least 3 product lines they have taken on in the last 6 months is because people there were talking about them.

you have a very good point . . . duragloss, etc . . .



its kinda nice that that carry that stuff now . .



and it was indeed because of significant member requests, and autogeeks own people testing and evaluating those new products.



i was refering more to my personal tactics when shopping for new products to try. I have neither the expierience nor senority to suggest new product lines to any online store. I will leave that to the professionals and extreame Enthusiasts. :buffing:

 

[ca8680]

I havent even order from chemical guys, but just how people make it seem and browsing through the well designed site i am already behind that band wagon.......im making a $400 dollar soon.....it sucks cause living in So CAL i thought the shipping would be cheap but no $48 GOSH.....and then the salex tax.....geesh oh well though

 

[truvette]

Just head over the the meguiars forum... total bias there.

Look over at MOL, if you see a non-Meguiars product get mentioned or praised, they might delete that post.

What else would you expect? It is a Meguiar's-owned forum designed to promote their own products. They are not hosting and maintaining their own forum for the purpose of opening up discussion to the products of their competitors. To think otherwise would be extremely naive and/or ignorant. It is a forum designed to provide support and feedback about the various products that Meguiar's manufactures.



Hypothetically, if any other manufacturer had their own forum, you would see discussion about their own products.



It simply boggles my mind as to why people would believe that you could use a manufacturer-owned forum to post discussions about competitor products.

 

[RCBuddha]

FWIW, we take a very dim view of shills here at Autopia, and if they're found out, they end up on the very short express train to Banville. Most are too obvious, and are banned quickly, but we've had a couple of shills that have managed to survive 30 or 40 posts before the pattern of advertising starts to appear.

Tort, how do you guys (as in Moderators) differentiate between someone being enthusiastic for a product vs. straight shilling? Sure, I've seen posts that were blatant, but sometimes you can't tell...

 

[94BlkStang]

I like to post about places that have been good to me and try to spread the word. I like to post about the products that have worked for me.

I agree. It's always nice to pass along an experience with a particular product, brand or supplier. It's those that put others down like you're an idiot if you don't follow their advice. There was guy on here about a year ago, that's since been banned, that constantly put down Poor Boys products and basically told you that you were an idiot if you didn't use Chemical Guys. I kindly explained to him that we all have choices and reasons for using the products that we find to work and he turned it into a pissing match

 

[ashsarna]

I agree. It's always nice to pass along an experience with a particular product, brand or supplier. It's those that put others down like you're an idiot if you don't follow their advice. There was guy on here about a year ago, that's since been banned, that constantly put down Poor Boys products and basically told you that you were an idiot if you didn't use Chemical Guys. I kindly explained to him that we all have choices and reasons for using the products that we find to work and he turned it into a pissing match

I think that guy is now on a detailing site now with that seems to whine/badmouth us here and certain products, instead of being constructive, giving advice, giving various product experiences ect. That is why i keep comming back here. This place is one of the very few that really gives me an insight of all that is out there.

 

[Mikeyc]

I think that guy is now on a detailing site now with that seems to whine/badmouth us here and certain products, instead of being constructive, giving advice, giving various product experiences ect. That is why i keep comming back here. This place is one of the very few that really gives me an insight of all that is out there.

Not to take this thread OT, but there is definitely one detailing forum on the web where all the guys who have been banned from all the other detailing forums have ended up.

 

[imported_mirrorfinishman]

When you ask yourself why some people always seem to have something to say about so many different brands of products, you will begin to understand whether or not there are biased posts in the forum.

 

[TortoiseAWD]

Tort, how do you guys (as in Moderators) differentiate between someone being enthusiastic for a product vs. straight shilling? Sure, I've seen posts that were blatant, but sometimes you can't tell...

It's difficult . . . some are pretty obvious, others it takes a while before you notice the pattern. Once you see a pattern that raises suspicions, then you can start snooping around, using IP addresses, Google, etc. to try to confirm that you've got someone abusing the system. I tracked one guy down because his AIM address in his Autopia profile was used as his forum name at another website. At that website, he identified himself as the webmaster for the product he was shilling here at Autopia. Busted.



I'm sure there are shills that we've missed, but we're always on the lookout for them.



Tort