Do not trust product recommendations with a focus on affiliate links to Amazon.
I only checked best Laptops. There wasn't a single Laptop which was not listed on Amazon. Case closed for me.
However, I would really like to build this myself or have an open source alternative. Seems like a good idea to search for product recommendations like this.
Ah, the old "the internet can solve information aggregation, for free, for all" case. From price search engines to review aggregators to services-searchers, the vision of the internet was that it would allow us to find anything, properly annotated and metadata-tagged, at no cost to anyone because information wants to be free. Easy to find the lowest price, from a vendor who has good reviews, for a product that appears to work and do what it promises, with some tips and tricks submitted by current users for a bonus... all just open and available. Those were the days... that never were.
Every price search engine, review aggregator and services-searcher (think Angie's List or other "find a trusted provider" orgs) since the 90s is either gone or just does affiliate links. So, even if you see multiple stores with links (Amazon AND Best Buy, 2 whole options!), it will only be to stores with a payback vig. Some of these sites will also use advertising to help pay the rent, and of course, eventually allow sponsored products to show up higher in the list.
I loved the idealism of the 90s, when we thought the mere presence of the internet would bring these things to life. It's too bad that the only way to make this stuff work is to basically sell out, if only a bit... and sometimes, the whole farm.
But is it always a sign that such a site or info provider can't be trusted? In some cases, sure. But note that Consumer Reports, one of the oldest and most trusted product recommendation orgs in the US (not trusted by all, of course, but by many) charges a subscription fee AND has affiliate links, and they still continue to survive with some sheen of quality (though, again, some think they are buffoons... I know this thanks to the Internet).
You misunderstood, OP isn't complaining that there are amazon affiliate links or that this site is trying to make money.
They're pointing out that only products that are sold on amazon, are being aggregated. So the web app isn't fulfilling the claim of "listing Reddit's favorite products", but instead they are listing "Reddit's favorite products that are sold on amazon".
Which causes such issues that another commenter pointed out, there are no ThinkPad laptop models listed as a favorite product for /r/laptops.
Fair point, but it still highlights the issue that bugs me: the reason why they are amazon only is to pay for the site. If there was a business model that supported this aggregation without pay-for-traffic, I bet we'd see a lot more products from a lot more potential sources.
BTW, not saying that no model can exist (subscriptions, whatever) but that most implementations appear to fail out and leave us with affiliate links.
Many useful recommendations can't be bought at all. My recommended pan is any antique cast iron, my recommended antidepressant is exercise, my recommended boat is don't get a boat.
These options are part of what makes going to Reddit better than a retailer for reviews
These sound like great examples of the noise you get on Reddit and back up OP's approach in my eyes.
If I ask for antidepressant recommendations I want something with an Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Code of N06, not some glib remark about exercise. It's great exercise can help you feel better, but antidepressant has a very specific meaning.
If I ask for recommendations for a boat, I want something that floats in water, not some glib remark about how boats sink money. Yes boats a very expensive, but I'd ask "should I get a boat" if I was that early in the decision making process
And an "antique cast iron" is a very vague criteria and will lead to a goose chase, where as recommending a basic Lodge that will do the same job for 99% of the population without throwing them in the deep end of learning how to strip and season a 50 year old pan from scratch
I agree. Maybe my comment sounded a bit harsh. Let me rephrase it.
It is totally fine for me, if there are affiliate links. You have to pay the rent somehow. However, if it's the site's only focus (excluding products because there is no affiliate link) and the content is obviously auto generated, I have no use for it.
It would have been nice of the creators to get money for the affiliate links, but allow other products to exist on the platform. I think the revenue would still be more than high enough.
Yeah, I jumped to a conclusion. You make a very valid point about inclusivity of listing all the products recommended (or recommended highly enough), not just the ones that pay a vig.
Looria co-founder here. I want to clarify that we do not exclusively list products on Amazon. It just so happens that most products people buy are on Amazon.
It would be nice if you had an option to never show Amazon links in the results. Due to their commingling, counterfeit problems, and their scummy business practices, many people who would use your site probably don’t want to give Amazon their business. (I’m betting a higher number of your users are power users than other sites.) One of the features I like about kagi.com is that I can exclude sites from search results.
I try to go to the manufacturer’s website when possible. If that’s not possible, I try to go to a site that doesn’t have any other sellers on it. The whole “marketplace” that many websites are becoming is awful because you can no longer find a store you trust and buy from it knowing you’re more likely to get something of quality.
Anyway, I’m sure that doesn’t help you get revenue for your site, but since you asked, I wanted to respond.
Insane that no ThinkPad appears in the best laptops list.
But agree that this is a good idea. I am clueless about monitors and found some nice recommendations there. Hope to see more improvements in the future.
Are thinkpads still worthwhile? The latest versions don’t have as good of Linux or BSD support from a hardware perspective and the older versions are starting to be unattractive from a pricing/performance perspective (because of performance). I know there are upgrade kits for older models but last I checked that requires purchases from China (long shipping times, language barrier in ordering).
Can't speak for the newest ones, but the older ones still hold up with varying success. I love my X220, ran Fedora flawlessly and never had any issues with it. Eventually was forced to switch to something with a bigger screen (I used it exclusively as my personal machine for maybe 2 months), and went with a P50. Really nice machine, but sadly it comes with a (now very outdated) nvidia graphics card, so compatbility can be a bit shaky.
I also tried a T520, which was a solid laptop in principal (basically just a big x220), but in practice I had issues. The only way to get it with an i7 is to get a gpu with it, so I got the i5 and then upgraded to an i7 manually (nice to have a normal socketed cpu), but as it turns out the out-the-box i7 model comes with extra cooling to deal with the heat, which my own upgrade struggled with. After that, my 520 didn't see much more use. Maybe soon I'll downgrade it again so its more usable.
Edit: Think I got a bit distracted there with my own issues. Also tried the X240 and X250, and both are solid laptops as well. I dont use my X240 everyday, maybe once a week, but its been running strong for years now.
The trick I’ve found is to use something like this to get some model numbers - read up on the specs, and then start searching for the model number on Reddit and other places until I find people talking about it, then read as much as I can.
And also search “model number problem” too.
It’s not perfect but it usually works well enough.
It's a good one, but worth also making a collection of alt model numbers. Costco, for example, gets custom models just for it's stores, as does Best Buy in the US. Often the products are the same except for a color, though some include extras either in the box (a sleeve!) or in the product.
Yeah, once you start searching on a model, you often can find details about what that model actually is, and the various forms it appears (manuals, especially repair manuals, can be tremendous for this).
Search engine "item + problem" is where i always start. Of course, you get the 'piece of crap, took three months to get during covid' bs, but i really want to know how bad the item may be, as much as how bad the company may be ("didn't solve my problem").
It's using the past two years of comments, but ThinkPads have seen a severe decline before that. For example, the arrow keys are no longer a different shape from other keys.
Perhaps it's because Thinkpads have their own subreddit so a lot of mentions|questions|comments get siphoned off from a more general subreddit like /r/laptops
I only checked best Laptops. There wasn't a single Laptop which was not listed on Amazon. Case closed for me.
However, I would really like to build this myself or have an open source alternative. Seems like a good idea to search for product recommendations like this.