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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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In Reply to: Stereophile - Some Data posted by John Atkinson on January 24, 2006 at 07:05:01:
The primary problem with Stereophile is the strong bias toward favorable reviews which seems to lead to an enormous recommended components list.The list would provide much more value if it was 90% shorter ... and also included a NOT recommended list of components reviewed that year (a very short list!).
The odds of a favorable Stereophile review are so high that if you merely assume the component received a favorable review, you will almost always be right, and won't have to read the review!
In fact, I recommend reading the list of components reviewed in the table of contents and then going to an audio store to audition any component that interests you.
After the audition you may want to read the entire component review, although it would be redundant at that time.
Reading a positive review first is likely to bias an audition that follows.
Positive reviews are what the advertisers want, IMHO.
Doesn't matter if it's their products or others -- a high percentage of positive reviews keeps the advertisers happy. IMHO.
Stereophile readers, however, deserve more than "happy face" reviews.
The audiophiles who used to criticize Julian Hirsh reviews in Stereo Review and Sound & Vision are getting the same positive-review bias in Stereophile.
I challenge Stereophile to publish a list of reviewed components that are NOT recommended, and why they are not recommended (one sentence is fine) -- adding real value to the ridiculously large list of recommended components we see every year.
Stereophile offers a perfect example of how NOT to do a recommended components list!
But the list is not the core problem -- the root cause of the huge list is the positive review bias.
If that bias has absolutely no link to the fact that Stereophile is supported mainly by advertising, then I'll eat my hat.
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Follow Ups
- Red Herring data -- perhaps correct, but not important - Richard BassNut Greene 09:09:24 01/27/06 (4)
- More whining :-( - John Atkinson 09:32:29 01/27/06 (3)
- What you call "More whining" is an explanation of why I no longer subscribe (& your "Julian Hirsch defense" is weak) - Richard BassNut Greene 07:23:47 01/28/06 (1)
- Reviews... - Sommovigo 20:23:04 01/30/06 (0)
- Re: "Otherwise, how do you explain why so many products from _non_-advertisers also appear on the list?" - Ivan303 11:40:36 01/27/06 (0)
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