Yale Reinstein's dashboard

Yale Reinstein replied on September 24, 2009 20:53 to the question "Whats the Policy on the vendor writing an article?" in ProductWiki:

This is why we need people like you (critical thinkers), and those who have actually tried the products. We have several products added by manufacturers with comments from multiple individuals claiming it is a scam or just plain bad. Nobody is saying we're trying to get it perfect - but if something is popular we hope the wiki nature of the site will get the truth out there. Even if there is a hint of skepticism created by contributors to our site, it might deter potential customers from making the wrong choices! Sorry I didn't get back to you here sooner, thanks for the concerns!

Yale Reinstein set one of Yale Reinstein's replies as an official response to "Whats the Policy on the vendor writing an article?" in ProductWiki

Yale Reinstein set one of Omar Ismail's replies as an official response to "How do I delete my productwiki account?" in ProductWiki

Yale Reinstein shared an idea in ProductWiki on September 24, 2009 20:37:

limit related/competing products to those already on the site

This will slow down the number of random dupes created by lazy people in these fields.Eg/ 'iphone' vs. having them select the proper product listing on the site, the 'Apple iPhone 3G'. It would also probably eliminate the number of stubs for those truly wanting to add competitors not on the site - as they'd be forced to at least attempt a full report.

Yale Reinstein replied on August 18, 2009 18:54 to the idea "collaborative pro/con deletion" in ProductWiki:

Oh crap, I pretty much just copied a previous suggestion of mine. Maybe a bit more flushed out. Complicated. Ugh.

Yale Reinstein replied on August 18, 2009 18:54 to the idea "dispute pro/con" in ProductWiki:

Oh crap, I pretty much just copied myself here. Flushed out a few ideas.

Yale Reinstein shared an idea in ProductWiki on August 18, 2009 18:52:

collaborative pro/con deletion

'this pro/con has been negated or corrected by a recent product update/revision' button in the "advanced" pro/con section - what is now 'See individual votes'. After a certain number or percentage the pro/con is taken off the main list, perhaps added to another where it can still be voted on / re-voted into existence.

Complicated but necessary with some products, and to give more power to the people.

Eg/ Google Chrome having no Full Screen F11 mode - a large number of people voted it up, now it has it, and only I can delete the con.

Yale Reinstein reported a problem in ProductWiki on July 07, 2009 05:38:

long links error

adding

http://hometheaterreview.com/sherwood...

to http://www.productwiki.com/sherwood-n...

errors

Yale Reinstein shared an idea in ProductWiki on July 05, 2009 03:52:

character limit for pros/cons

From Jordan (shadowtech): set a character limit for pros/cons to limit misuse (comments). When character limit is exceeded request user to use comment field.

Yale Reinstein reported a problem in ProductWiki on June 23, 2009 20:21:

sub-class / base-class pricing bug

http://www.productwiki.com/sony-bravi...
http://www.productwiki.com/sony-bravi...

series report caries a single price, product report caries series price range

Yale Reinstein reported a problem in ProductWiki on April 27, 2009 07:13:

proRANK bug

users with no reviews (?) are reported as being ranked #1.

eg/ http://www.productwiki.com/maxxpope-h...

Yale Reinstein shared an idea in ProductWiki on April 10, 2009 18:30:

limit users rights to add links

Might have mentioned this earlier, but users should not be able to add links until they become somehow certified. Should be tied to 'trusted reviewer' status (not given right away). 5 edits sounds good to me.

Yale Reinstein shared an idea in ProductWiki on April 04, 2009 22:40:

restricted property values

Jan's idea. For product properties such as 'CPU type' or 'Compatible Operating System', entries should be restricted to product entries found on the site. This will reduce multiple names for the same thing eg/ Win Xp, XP, Windows XP, Microsoft Windows XP, PC, etc..., thus solidifying the usefulness of these product properties.

I understand how this could be restrictive, but I think its a fair tradeoff for many of the more popular properties such as the two listed above.

04:41:24 < Jan|> i'd also like a way to link the property values
04:42:28 < Jan|> like, the "Supported Operating System(s)" property could get its data from the operating system category
04:42:36 < Jan|> from the titles
04:42:47 < Jan|> of the product reports

Yale Reinstein shared an idea in ProductWiki on April 04, 2009 21:59:

Product Timelines

Many products are split into many entries with only 'related' to bind them together. Hardware such as an Apple Macbook and software such as Microsoft Windows are difficult. On the one hand they are a single product - but on the other they are many individual products which evolve over time - with many different features, target markets etc etc...

A timeline may be one such device and step towards a more time and product sensitive vision for PW. This might also be a step towards a standardized naming and product entry convention. Such a design would require some serious coding - but I think it would add an equal amount of value to the site.

Yale Reinstein replied on March 17, 2009 23:17 to the question "Whats the Policy on the vendor writing an article?" in ProductWiki:

Hey Jez,

We currently have a page for site policies located here. Admittedly it is pretty barren at the moment - we don't have that much trouble.

To answer your direct questions:

We don't specifically state that entries shouldn't be created by manufacturers - as long as they are objective and not merely copy and pasted marketing material this is fine! Copy and pasted entries are labeled but rarely removed if the product meets a certain level of notoriety (i.e. not some small furniture manufacturer or t-shirt artist etc etc..). Entries of products that aren't really mainstream are generally deleted as spam (see deletion policies detailed below).

Seeding reviews is frowned upon, but not a real issue.I do remember at least one entry where a company caught seeded reviews from 4 independent users. In these cases we generally just call the manufacturer out and don't delete the content (it is however voted down by the community).

Products, comments and links added that are considered spam are deleted under our slightly less ambiguous link, product and comment deletion policies. Some people have pointed out that they aren't the strongest in the world, but having a little bit of leway is a good thing, and nobody has really complained of unfair treatment. Feel free to add to our discussions on these, or read about how you can help.

Hope this answers your questions!

Yale

Yale Reinstein started following the idea "reports I've started" in ProductWiki.

Yale Reinstein reported a problem in ProductWiki on March 15, 2009 19:02:

review pro/con count is not recounted when pro/con is deleted

pretty self-explanatory.

Yale Reinstein shared an idea in ProductWiki on March 15, 2009 08:04:

flag this review

flag this review!

Biased reviews should be voted down - perhaps even discriminated against automatically. There are always going to be extreme cases though, so add a button.... eventually!

Yale Reinstein shared an idea in ProductWiki on March 13, 2009 23:13:

have filter for individual review skimming

When somebody checks out all of your reviews they're looking for your best reviews, what you like most etc etc...

A have filter should be in place, which should also sort by highest ranked. Thoughts?

Yale Reinstein shared an idea in ProductWiki on March 13, 2009 23:05:

minimum contribution level for most positive reviews

When it comes to the 'view by most positive' filter in an individuals profile...

Vote on one or two pros and your most positive reviews are clogged and note reflective of what you truly like the most. Perhaps a high minimum (of say 10 pros/cons) should be in order. This way a user has to vote *a lot* in favour to get this up there, also means there won't be lots of 100s, but rather many in the 80s and 90s for those truly digging a specific product.