from Hacker News

Fuck Amazon Vine

by fivedogit on 12/21/20, 10:13 PM with 36 comments

by netrus on 12/21/20, 10:44 PM
Not a very convincing post. I do not think the first review violates the highlighted policy, and I feel very uneasy with the disclosure of the songs played by the second, non-anonymized reviewer. Are you sure this person consented to you sharing her logs? Or is it fair game, because she had the audacity not to like your product after 8 minutes? Will you also challenge requests for refunds by pointing out that your customers did not try hard enough to like it?
Vine might have been a bad choice for you, but I am not sure I dislike it from an Amazon-customer perspective, and your post does not make me want to try your product (will you share my musical preferences if I do?).
by balls187 on 12/21/20, 10:48 PM
I see that OP is the creator of the product. This post comes across as defensive.
Seems like you got some valuable feedback--you may not agree with it, but then take it with a grain of salt.
The 2nd reviewer self identifies as being your target customer, and provides her feedback, which is discounted because she's asking for more physical inputs, and an improved Alexa app.
As a creator, you let yourself be vulnerable releasing something for others to use and criticize. It's not easy to hear that criticism, but it's part of the process.
by jaggirs on 12/21/20, 10:52 PM
"This entire “review” is lazy,.." "A thinner, less meaty review is hard to imagine."
What the hell are you talking about, that review was everything but lazy, she wrote 3 entire paragraphs of genuine, constructive feedback.
She couldn't figure out how to use the product -> Listen -> Make the product easier to use.
by JadeNB on 12/21/20, 10:35 PM
I had never heard of Amazon Vine before, but am willing to assume that there are a ton of problems with it; but this post doesn't clearly articulate them. It seizes on problems with two reviews, and seems premised on the idea that "I know my product is flawless, so the problem for any reviews that are less than 5 stars must be with the reviewer."
(The case doesn't seem very clearly made—despite the highlighted policy—for why it should be inappropriate for someone to write about their observations of someone else's experience with the product, only why it would be inappropriate to write "I hear lots of people don't like this" or similar. Also, the complaint about reviewers leaping to judgements is surely accurate, but more a problem with (at least non-expert) reviewing in general than with this particular program.)
by Closi on 12/21/20, 10:43 PM
> "We signed up to send our niche product to random strangers, and then were surprised that nobody was adequately qualified to review it! Also we expected 5 star reviews only and this is Amazon's fault"
by sn_master on 12/21/20, 10:43 PM
The example is about a woman who gave a review based on her child's experience and the article is complaining the woman didn't use the product herself, which is against the Vine rules.
How are people supposed to review children toys then?!
by neurobashing on 12/21/20, 10:33 PM
Industry rules preventing beers, bands, and actors from having the same name seem sort-of strange, until you get into technology.
Which is weird bc we all fret about "namespace pollution" but see no problem with calling something Vine after the last thing called Vine is still in the zeigeist enough that people say "I miss Vine" from time to time.
by yowlingcat on 12/21/20, 11:12 PM
I think that whoever wrote this post (and from what it seems like a bunch of comments here) needs to do some serious self-reflecting about whether they're really owning the unflattering market reception of their product launch.
I would advise a more customer centric approach and attitude. The hostility and defensiveness is poison in the well. If you alienate the customers who are supposed to be the lifeblood of your company, you can risk quickly gaining a bad reputation that becomes terminal. Then your company dies.
This is a common failure mode for companies.