MSI allegedly attempts to pay off a Youtuber not to post a negative review

[ThrashZone]

I cannot believe how people are hating on MSI after the post about their CEO dying brought nothing but praise. In terms of one mistake no more purchase would have killed every company in the space. If this was 2009 would not in anyway recommend As Rock. As I have stated before I have never had any issues with MSI products and talking about MSI laptops my friend at the computer store told me that he would always pick MSI before Asus due to build quality.

Hi,
He committed suicide or got thrown off a building I'd hardly call that dying

Dying insinuates he had a half a chance of recovery
He was dead milliseconds after the abrupt stop

 

[Regeneration]

4 pages of posts, lots of articles and threads on the Internet. But so far, 0 evidence provided to support this claim.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Where's the evidence?

I agree. This is all hearsay at best.

I don't believe a genuine MSI official offered anyone a bribe. "IF" it happened at all, it more likely was some low-level marketing/PR weenie working on his or her own behalf, or maybe even a sales rep who works on commission.

 

[thesmokingman]

4 pages of posts, lots of articles and threads on the Internet. But so far, 0 evidence provided to support this claim.

MSI's lack of a rebuttal speaks volumes. The reviewer is backed by AMD. That clearly puts pressure on MSI in the case that they do try to deny the claim made against them.

 

[lexluthermiester]

MSI's lack of a rebuttal speaks volumes.

No it doesn't. It says exactly nothing.

The reviewer is backed by AMD.

Says the reviewer. A statement from AMD has not(yet) been made.

That clearly puts pressure on MSI in the case that they do try to deny the claim made against them.

It does not. The burden of proof is on the youtuber who made the claim.

 

[Regeneration]

Can be a PR agent, of a PR agency, of a PR agency.

Without screenshots/recordings this is just a rumor. Another UFO sighting.

 

[thesmokingman]

Can be a PR agent, of a PR agency, of a PR agency. Without screenshots/recordings this is just a rumor.

Are you MSI's lawyer or something? It is what it is. You can keep denying it, that's your prerogative.

 

[Bill_Bright]

It is what it is.

No it isn't. Just because one person says someone else said something, that does NOT make it a fact!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Are you MSI's lawyer or something? It is what it is. You can keep denying it, that's your prerogative.

No, there is only one person making the claims, without any evidence to support such claims. That is not "prerogative".

 

[kapone32]

Hi,
He committed suicide or got thrown off a building I'd hardly call that dying

Dying insinuates he had a half a chance of recovery
He was dead milliseconds after the abrupt stop

Dying is used in the past tense regardless of circumstance. It is purely conjecture to use words like suicide. Unless we were right there we don't know. For all we know it could be the Chinese Government but that statement has no evidence so it would not be something to say either.

 

[milewski1015]

No it isn't. Just because one person says someone else said something, that does NOT make it a fact!

Signature checks out: "You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. Do NOT assume what you think to be true, is true. Or what was true in the past, still is. Do your homework. Verify your facts. Then post."

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

I dont understand the point of review samples if youre not allowed to give negative feedback. That is supposed to be the point to try and improve a product. Why make everyone say good things about something that is shit? That just gives a bad rep for the reviewer and the company that made the product.

 

[Regeneration]

I dont understand the point of review samples if youre not allowed to give negative feedback. That is supposed to be the point to try and improve a product. Why make everyone say good things about something that is shit? That just gives a bad rep for the reviewer and the company that made the product.

The company hands over a free unit and pay for international shipping. They expect something in return. If you trash their product, don't expect to get any more samples.

All hardware reviewers are on a leash.

Best thing is to buy the products then you don't owe anyone anything. But that's impossible for 0-day products.

 

[Bill_Bright]

The company hands over a free unit and pay for international shipping. They expect something in return. If you trash their product, don't expect to get any more samples.

You just illustrated the problem with many reviews - "The company hands over a free unit". Who's to say that "free unit" was not specifically cherry picked to shine beautifully in the reviews? Plus, is the review of one sample unit a fair review? I say, "no". The more samples, the more accurate the review.

As far as expecting something in return, I do believe most, not all of course, but most expect a "fair", unbiased review.

All hardware reviewers are on a leash.

That is definitely NOT true. Consumer Reports, for example, buy their review samples (as in more than one unit) from Walmart, Amazon, BestBuy, etc. just as you and I would. They do not accept review samples directly from the manufacturer.

 

[sneekypeet]

If you take a girl on a date, you expect something in return by the end of the night.

The company hands over a free unit and pay for international shipping. They expect something in return. If you trash their product, don't expect to get any more samples.

All hardware reviewers are on a leash.

Best thing is to buy the products then you don't owe anyone anything. But that's impossible for 0-day products.

Depends on the site (Alexa rating/traffic) to be honest. While they do expect good things in return, you cannot ask a reviewer to gloss over glaring issues.
Even bad press is press, it gets your name into minds! Six months from now, you will still have that name in your head, but you may have forgotten why....win-win.

@Bill_Bright Not all samples come from the factory. In instances like motherboards, CPUs, GPUs, and systems, sure. But even then, nine out of ten times it is sealed in the box, not that they couldn't reseal a box, but since it is peeled for images, why bother. Many samples of what I cover come from retail channels the maker has partnerships with.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

The company hands over a free unit and pay for international shipping. They expect something in return. If you trash their product, don't expect to get any more samples.

All hardware reviewers are on a leash.

Best thing is to buy the products then you don't owe anyone anything. But that's impossible for 0-day products.

Thats just bullshit. The point of a review sample should include both positive and negatives. Otherwise there is no benefit to the consumer. LTT does this and so do other reviewers and they dont get bit in the ass when posting something negative.

 

[Assimilator]

The company hands over a free unit and pay for international shipping. They expect something in return. If you trash their product, don't expect to get any more samples.

The only thing they should expect is an unbiased review. If that's negative, so be it, it's not like every product every company produces is solid gold.

Any company that blacklists a reviewer because of a negative review is a company with idiots as staff, and I don't particularly want to buy products from idiots. Any reviewer that gets blacklisted for posting a negative review should call out the company in question on as many social media channels as possible, to discourage them from continuing to do the same stupid shit.

Until or unless reviewers, small and large, start pushing back against these abusive practices (and that goes for other industries too), the situation won't get better.

 

[Regeneration]

Thats just bullshit. The point of a review sample should include both positive and negatives. Otherwise there is no benefit to the consumer. LTT does this and so do other reviewers and they dont get bit in the ass when posting something negative.

LTT is a famous YouTube channel with 11 million subscribers and probably enough money to buy all samples.

Depends on the site (Alexa rating/traffic) to be honest. While they do expect good things in return, you cannot ask a reviewer to gloss over glaring issues.
Even bad press is press, it gets your name into minds! Six months from now, you will still have that name in your head, but you may have forgotten why....win-win.

@Bill_Bright Not all samples come from the factory. In instances like motherboards, CPUs, GPUs, and systems, sure. But even then, nine out of ten times it is sealed in the box, not that they couldn't reseal a box, but since it is peeled for images, why bother. Many samples of what I cover come from retail channels the maker has partnerships with.

Positive or negative exposure is still exposure.

I stopped reading hardware reviews because all review sites sound too "politically correct" for my taste.

I expect some trashing/flaming there and then for the LOLs.

I look at users' reviews on Amazon when I need feedback for a product.

The only thing they should expect is an unbiased review. If that's negative, so be it, it's not like every product every company produces is solid gold.

Put yourself in their shoes. Would you support someome who says that you and your product suck?

 

[sneekypeet]

LTT is a famous YouTube channel with 11 million subscribers and probably enough money to buy all samples.



Positive or negative exposure is still exposure.

I stopped reading hardware reviews because all review sites sound too "politically correct" for my taste.

I expect some trashing/flaming there and then for the LOLs.

I look at users' reviews on Amazon when I need feedback for a product.

I can only speak for myself, but if I see a shitbox, I call it such. I had a review years ago with a page titled "The Failure Continues!"

In my experience, I get samples, and if I trash them, I get a reply like (not quoting here, summarizing) thanks for all of the points you made, we will look into this when releasing our next product. Next thing I know, they ask if I want to see something else they make. Of course, we have a good rating for the site I'm with, which helps keep manufacturers from pulling anything funny, as they need us as much as we need them to exist.

Amazon reviews: you mean where a company sends a free sample to a user to post on Amazon.....Common practice!

 

[Regeneration]

Amazon tags reviews with "Verified Purchase", but hey, a company can buy their own product and then write a review.

Your review is still too polite. VGA cooler that doesn't fit on any card?! I'd say whoever designed that product deserves to be electrocuted in the shower.

 

[sneekypeet]

Amazon tags reviews with "Verified Purchase", but hey, a company can buy their own product and then write a review.

Your review is still too polite. VGA cooler that doesn't fit on any card?! I'd say whoever designed that product deserves to be electrocuted in the shower.

I cannot say you are wrong, but that review resulted in the rest of the world getting a V2 cooler, and not dealing with what I had to go through. So a bad review played well for both sides of the coin. We got traffic for it, the company reacted properly and did not take a hit.

I do not believe I said the cooler would not fit any card, just that it was designed to fit my GTX 470, which it obviously did not. It also goes to show the lengths a reviewer will go through to have to solve an issue. In that instance, I had to chat with my boss, the manufacturer, and even Nvidia so that I had all my ducks in a row to publish my findings.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Many samples of what I cover come from retail channels the maker has partnerships with.

Yeah, that's good to know. That goes a really long way in removing the possibility of, or even the appearance of any impropriety thus ensuring the integrity of TPU reviews!

In my experience, I get samples, and if I trash them, I get a reply like (not quoting here, summarizing) thanks for all of the points you made, we will look into this when releasing our next product. Next thing I know, they ask if I want to see something else they make.

Yeah, I used to do evaluations of products we were considering purchasing when we were standing up the Wide Area Network for the Air Force Base here. And while all reviews and evaluations were never available for public consideration, we always shared them with the manufacturers. And as you said, they typically were appreciative of our honest critique and very often our suggestions were put in the next revisions.

HOWEVER, I think much of that depends on the reputation of the reviewers. As government reviewers prepared to spend taxpayer's dollars, no bias or preferential treatments were ever tolerated (***). I believe the same can be said for TPU. But there are some review sites that clearly demonstrate a preference for one brand, or a biased against another. That's pretty obvious to the makers, and those who do professional reviews. But sadly, it can tarnish all review sites with the less informed.

And then there are so called review sites that simply repeat (often verbatim) the marketing "fluff" provided by the manufacturers. Those are about as reliable as many "user reviews".

*** I say that as the technical reviewers - not as the one's making the actual purchases. Sadly, there were times we would recommend the AF buy Brand A but they went with Brand B for reasons beyond our understanding or knowledge. All I can say is, I never recommended buying a $600 hammer!

 

[Regeneration]

I cannot say you are wrong, but that review resulted in the rest of the world getting a V2 cooler, and not dealing with what I had to go through. So a bad review played well for both sides of the coin. We got traffic for it, the company reacted properly and did not take a hit.

I do not believe I said the cooler would not fit any card, just that it was designed to fit my GTX 470, which it obviously did not. It also goes to show the lengths a reviewer will go through to have to solve an issue. In that instance, I had to chat with my boss, the manufacturer, and even Nvidia so that I had all my ducks in a row to publish my findings.

Actually when I think about it, your review was a bit unfair.

GELID was founded after one of the owners of Arctic Cooling took over the company. The same guy was also the main engineer. The other partners left and started their own company. That cooler was one of their first products... expected to fail given the circumstances.

 

[sneekypeet]

Actually when I think about it, your review was a bit unfair.

GELID was founded after one of the owners of Arctic Cooling took over the company. The same guy was also the main engineer. The other partners left and started their own company. That cooler was one of their first products... expected to fail given the circumstances.

If the product makes it to retail, first or last product of any company, if they expect you to pay for it, it needs to work for whatever it is said to work with. Otherwise it falls into false advertising, which is a whole other topic.

 

[Regeneration]

GELID founders are actually really nice guys. They'll send samples even if you trash the product, or won't publish a review at all . No blacklists and no discrimination. If anyone deserves a break it's them. If I remember correctly, the takeover was full of drama and insanity. Even the police was involved.