Slashdot Mirror
Alienware Admit Trying to Fiddle Reviews
An anonymous reader writes "Alienware seem to have admitted threatening review sites with no future hardware unless positive reviews are written about their products. Hexus.net attempted to obtain a recent Alienware system and were rebuffed in an email claiming that their last review had scuppered the chances of them getting any hardware to review in the future. Follow-up emails confirmed this was part of Alienware's global marketing strategy. " I've read through the whole article and it would appear that the above is what the rep said. Now, granted, one would hope that's one person in that company, but still bad form.
I think not. They have always had over-priced, flashy cases with mediocre hardware. And do you think most companies give out free hardware to get "C" grade reviews? No, of course not. This is just part of the marketing game.
I, for one, suggest "AlienatingWare".
:%s/Open Source/Free Software/g
YTARY!
When you have a review site, do you get to KEEP the hardware?
Dog is my co-pilot.
I thought everybody just kind of knew that hardware companies weren't going to supply hardware to bad reviewers? That would just be counter-intuitive on the part of the manufacturer. That's pretty much why I don't put too much stock in reviews and try and dig as much info as I can out of user reviews.
I've read through the whole article
Who are you and what have you done with the real editors?!?!?!??
Alienware is AWESOME! Great! Superb! This article is FUD.
/checks mail
/checks mail again
They're still Awesome!! HELLOooO!!! Your hardware rules!
groupthink: It's good for self-esteem.
Just one more good reason to build your own system. It's not that difficult and you'll get your system a lot faster than Alienware can deliver. I tried to buy an Alienware early this summer after having a real bad experience with ordering a Dell XPS 700 .... and they promised shipping in two weeks and then they change the time to two months. Yuck, and the worst thing about Alienware is they charge you upfront and just sit on the cash.
I'll never buy again!
Consumer Reports magazine has the right idea... If you're going to review and test products, you need to obtain them the exact same way, and through the same channels, that end-users do. Even if a manufacturer can seemingly be trusted not to withhold new products from reviewers to retaliate for a bad review, it doesn't mean they're not "cherry picking" the products they're sending them!
Especially in cases where there are high numbers of D.O.A. or malfunctioning units, reviewers simply don't catch this problem if they're only receiving pre-tested, pre-selected samples for free evaluation.
Let me translate this back into the native 1st grade language in which this argument was originally expressed before it was dressed up in self-righteous ethical terms.
Hexus.Net: Gimme free shit!
AlienWare: No, you're mean.
HN: Wah! I want free shit! You're a poopy-head.
AW: I don't gotta give you nothin' if you're not extra-special nice to me.
HN: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! Waaaaah!
AW: I'm taking my ball and going home.
HN: I'll get you for this. I'm telling!
in other news:
water is wet
the sky is blue
size matters
sarcasm:
-noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
Fine. No hardware for you either.
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
Exactly. Everybody does it. I don't see how this is any different than Microsoft and Oracle's EULAs which say you can't publish benchmarks without their permission.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
I wrote for a couple of computer industry trade rags back in the early 90s and the editorial policy was that we never gave bad reviews. If a product sucked, the review was never published. We gave feedback back to the manufacturer but nothing got printed.
The reasoning was simple. If the manufacturer really wanted a review printed, they would fix their product (and some of them REALLY wanted good reviews and actually did make improvements). And if the magazine wanted to continue to get advertising dollars, they didn't print bad reviews. It was the unspoken quid pro quo.
What would you expect??
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cixel
"They have always had over-priced, flashy cases with mediocre hardware"
Don't knock this business model. It kept Apple going in the years prior to OS-X and the iPod.
Where were you when the voynix came?
This is why you have Consumers Reports: they buy their products at the store and they don't take advertising.
I acknowledge that it would be almost impossible for a web site to not take advertising, but buying product at the store is very important. For example, if you request an LCD for a review, don't you think they are going to look through a bunch of them and make sure you get the one with no dead pixels and no other problems?
Apparently Alienware took back the servers that ran the website too :)
On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
I would rather have my pictures of getting my ass whipped by a horde of crazy sado-masochist foot fetishist south african mongolian descent hentai zulu tribe circulate around the internet instead of this news in slashdot, if i were alienware.
Read radical news here
Seems to me that threatening a reviews site is a bad move. Rather than give into the threat, they may as well right an account of it. The scandal will draw peoples attention to the review site. Review site wins, Alienware grumbles.
Rather than trying to force good reviews, a more diplomatic approach would have been to hint or bribe. Maybe even trick and swindle.
Intimidation is bad! >:(
YOU BASTARDS!
Anyone got the meat of the article?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
That is pretty talented. Perhaps they should go to Georgia to outfiddle the devil.
Freedom would be not to choose between black and white but to abjure such prescribed choices. -Theodor Adorno
Is anyone surprised by this?
Apple has been doing this for years.... sites or publications that don't give glowing reviews are not invited to press conferences, don't get the cool swag, are excluded from preview announcements, don't get access to excutives. It's one way that Apple manipulates (influences) the press... that's why sites that always give great reviews (see Wall St. Journal) always have easy access to the newest equipment and executives.
Review sites are rampant with fradulent reviews on both sides. Manufacturers are giving hardware in exchange for favorable reviews and meanwhile many of the review sites are just shills for hardware vendors. It's always been somewhat true that the advertising side of publications had some influence over the editorial side, it's just gotten much worse (and easier to cheat
One of the best things about language is that it changes over time.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
That's no Slashdot effect! Alienware just took back their server hardware.
w00t
"Who are you and what have you done with the real editors?!?!?!??"
Although the Slashdot editor only added two sentences of his own, he managed to commit two errors (one of punctuation and one of grammar) within that brief space. You may rest assured that the same elite editing talent as always is running the site.
He who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
Not in Britain. Companies are always plural.
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
These clowns are still in business? LOL! They will eventually go the way of such big hits as the PCJr, etc. eventually. Why anyone would pay them all outdoors and then wait for a prepaid system is absolutely beyond me. When its time for a new gaming rig, I simply buy a current model HP retail box off the shelf that suits my needs for processor speed, storage and has the appropriate upgrade options available. Then I immediately buy the RAM it lacks, an Nvidia video card and a current model soundblaster. I take this stuff home, spend about a 1/2 hour installing it, etc. and I am gtg for another few years. Simple, cost effective and decent value for the dollar. How can you go wrong? This costs little if anything more than building from scratch and I have had great experience doing my PC hardware this way for several generations of systems now. Alienware is teh suck and nobody should buy that crap. I once called them up when they were advertising Alienware recommends Windows XP Professional and I asked them, why? I wanted to know EXACTLY what the benefit is to a gamer in a home setting. I wanted to know exactly how a few extra utilities and support for domain names, etc. was going to be useful to a gamer in thier home. Of course, they couldn't answer me. So then I put it to them again, so where do you get off telling gamers they should buy this more expensive OS for home use? No reply. I hung up and resolved to never, ever blow a penny on anything bearing the Alienware name. Credit where it is due though, they did a fine job of alienating me permanently.
He who hesitates is lost.
Companies are plural, but company is singular. No matter what country you are in, one business is one business.
Where were you when the voynix came?
Maybe I will start a review site and ask Alienware for a system to "review" ...hey, yeah...THAT's the ticket...
From experience I've known that you and I see eye to eye on a number of industry issues but I'm a little baffled by your idealism on this front:
Baffled by a company writing an honest review instead of a fluff piece. And this is what industry expects from trade rags. Pathetic.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Kudos to Hexus.net for actually telling us about this. I will no longer hold Alienware in the same esteem that I used to. I wonder what other companies do this?
Earn a % of cash back from Newegg, Tiger Direct, Walmart.com, and more: http://www.mrrebates.com?refid=458505
It makes no sense at all. One business is typically one business.
Where were you when the voynix came?
The almighty journalists at hexus.net seem to be missing out on the fact that alienware is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dell. As the article fails to elaborate on that fact, it becomes less interesting. What would be interesting indeed is whether Dell is behind this or not, because that might give us a clue about their marketing practices, as well.
HardOCP buys their review systems through retail channels and tests their tech support while posing as a regular customer. They're one of the few hardware sites that reviews the "consumer experience" instead of just the hardware.
A wealthy friend of my wife's came to me saying she wanted to buy the best PC, and money wasn't an object. She doesn't know enough to put together her own system, but her work does require a powerful system since she does financial work including the use of fractal something or other in futures investing. Stuff I don't understand, but she runs Mathematica and Maple and the fancy graphical displays of those programs. She also plays around in Second Life and blah blah blah. Someone else had told her about Alienware, but she sensibly decided those machines were too gaudy.
So I told her to check out Falcon. I mean, I'd much rather put my system together myself, but this Falcon system she got was gorgeous. The case was just stunning (which was important to my friend) and inside the case you could really tell that someone had spent a lot of time organizing things properly, trimming cables, etc.
And the system is just wicked-fast. SLI, the whole nine yards. Drivers were all updated and there weren't even any of those shareware teaser programs like Dell and Gateway put on their machines. It was simply a beautiful PC for someone who could afford it.
I don't know about dropping over $7k on a PC that I'm going to have to upgrade in 18 months anyway, even if it does include two 21" LCD monitors. But she's as happy as if she'd just blown Brad Pitt. God I hope she doesn't read this.
You are welcome on my lawn.
"Not in Britain. Companies are always plural."
I wonder what the British have to say about this. What is the most famous British corporation of all? It is probably the BBC. On the BBC's own site, hosted in the United Kingdom, you find this line "BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites." See the treatment as singular. There are 340 times as many references (34 million to 100 thousand) for "The BBC is" are there are for "The BBC are", which makes the latter grammatically incorrect usage look more and more like a mere mistake.
Where were you when the voynix came?
Now I've finally managed to read the full article, the email chain is pretty embarassing. When words like 'moron' start getting bandied about then the author has overstepped the bounds of professionalism IMO.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
I don't really think the typical Slashdot reader is a potential Alienware customer.
Quite honestly, I don't know who buys their machines anyway. You'd have to have a lot of money to spend, have no intelligence to shop around, have no skills to build your own machine, want to have a very powerful machine yet value looks over performance. These just don't add up to any type of person I can imagine, except perhaps spoiled rich teenage kids.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
ian
Just as I'm about to launch my new site: http://www.pleasesendyouritemstomecauseiwillonlywr itegoodreviews.com/ This site is of course ad-free and will be sponsored by people that send stuff. The new breakthrough will be "The Button" on the site. We have only one button and it will take you to random company that has sent stuff. Thanks!
In Britain companies can be plural or singular depending on context. You would use singular when the company is acting as one e.g. 'Zob corporation is in agreement with the ruling' but plural when the corporate entity is not acting as one e.g. 'Zob Corporation are internally in disagreement about the best way forward'. See the Economist style guide here.x .cfm?page=805687
http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/inde
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
Now that I've actually RTFA, it doesn't sound like a threat to me.
"We'd love to have a SKU which we can review and activate on launch day, to coincide with NVIDIA's release."
(The offer is made)
"Hello Tarinder,
I'm afraid, after the last review, our ability to send you any hardware for review is pretty much gone."
(The offer is refused)
"Matt,
the email inviting 'Alienware' to submit a G80 based system was sent without my authority."
(the offer wasn't permitted)
Matt was responding to an invitation. He declined because it's not his job to allow for less-than-perfect reviews.
Could it be that hexus is upset by this refusal?
Actually, Alienware was purchased by Dell recently. (Important note: I work for Dell as a phone tech support grunt.)
While Alienware is being pretty much kept as a seperate entity, Dell doesn't put up with this kind of stuff. We don't need to try and force people to give us good reviews -- we EARN our good reviews, and if we don't get one, well, we examine it and use them as important guides for improvements. If someone is taking the time to complain it means they at least care enough to think that there's room for improvement -- you don't get anywhere by ignoring the complaints, or as in this case trying to supress them.
The first thing you're told when you start at Dell is that we win with Integrity -- we don't waste our time trying to flim flam customers when we can just build a good product that brings them to us with honesty, ethics, and integrity. (Not to mention good support.)
I would be very, very surprised if in a week the person who sent that email to that review site has a job or wasn't in some form of coaching. Heck, I'd frankly be somewhat surprised if someone very high up in Dell didn't send an apology to those affected review sites about this.
It seems to me that in general it is beneficial for Alienware to leverage there products against the review site. I am not saying it's a fair or good practice but it's definitely something a lot of other companies do. Give them a good review or they take the ball home with them. In the sense of real journalism it's a bunch of crap serious reviewers don't care what this companies have to say or think, and will call a lemon a lemon. But a lot of these sites are marketing tools to help make all of the partners money and they will do anything to continue that relationship because it is mutually beneficial for them to work hand in hand. This is why you don't see many "good", well known, hardcore, or elite review sites reviewing Alienware products because Alienware knows to stay away from them because they will call it like they see it. Sometimes Alienware Gear is good but a lot of time it's run of the mill product in a slick package, and that's about all. You're paying for the name not the quality at that point, and people should already know that.
"The point is, an "s" at the end of a word is not necessary to consider that word as representing more than one object (i.e. plural). In the case of Alienware..."
Why not check the actual British usage? If you look for references at the BBC's own site, they use "the BBC is..." almost all the time, and rarely use "the BBC are.... If the BBC "are" not up on correct British usage, then who is....ahem...are?
Where were you when the voynix came?
...a hypothetical person came to me stating he/she wanted to astroturf for company "A". She stated she didn't have the technical expertise to do it on her own, so she wanted to pay for someone else's expertise. I told her I could do it, with the following formula:
1.) Point out superficial problems with company "B", then supply a reference to company "A".
2.) ???
3.) Profit!
hese just don't add up to any type of person I can imagine, except perhaps spoiled rich teenage kids.
We have a winner. I've really been racking my brains to figure out who's driving the hardware arms race...and I'm thinking that the more-money-than-sense affluent suburban kids must be doing it.
I'm not sure you actually did.
This is a case of removing a quote without context. If you examine the history of the dealings, Hexus offered a review to Alienware and Alienware refused. There's no threats and in fact the same computer system had been previously reviewed so the Alienware guy saying he'd have rocks in his head to have to go back after a previous review seems fair comment to me? What is all being spun as threatening an editorial publication is actually nothing of the sort. It's entirely up to a company to send a review product or not and they'd be fools to do so unless they thought that the publication would at least give it a fair chance.
I don't know, I think the whole printing of a private email discussion is pretty low too and the editorial rants about all sorts of things you simple cannot infer from what was actually said.
It seems that to get the top rating in Consumer Reports, all that's required of a car are cushy seats (apparently every reviewer at CS weighs ~300 lbs) and a plethora of cupholders. I kid you not, most CS car reviews that I've read have like one sentence on the ride quality/handling, one sentence about engine power, and the four paragraphs that lovingly describe in enhaustive detail the number and location of cupholders and how easy it is to adjust the color of the radio backlight. Ugh.
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
I agree. Mr Bettinson didn't have to give a reason for refusal, but he did. This was taken by the people at hexus to be a threat or hint that they would accept so long as a better review was given. Did Mat Bettinson say he'd conditionally accept? It was a straight refusal in my eyes. So any reasons given for the refusal would serve to inform rather than persuade.
The high-end Alienware laptops blow. My company has gone through 5 of their "desktop in a laptop" computers in less than 2 years because the level of quality is so low that they just don't last. The Intel systems just stop working after a little while(requiring Alienware replacements because Alienware won't refund our money) and the Aurora 7700 "gaming" laptop won't even play Stronghold 2(too choppy) or Black and White 2 (speeds up and slows down a lot). However, if you read the reviews of the hardware, they're all glowing and happy about them. The problem is that regular laptops simply aren't powerful enough for our needs. Even the fastest laptop processors are FAR behind desktop processors as far as performance is concerned.
I guess we can now trust Hexus.net right?
Or was this just a ploy.. to get people to see them as "independent"?
I can program myself out of a Hello World Contest!!
Somehow, I'm not surprised that hardware reviewers throw massive hissy fits. "Professionalism?" Please. These are guys who are given new, shiny toys to play with. They then get to write about the experience on the internets, and people think they're pretty cool. I would be shocked by the presence of professionalism among the reviewer corps, not its absence.
I'm posting this AC as it would not be in my best interest to have what I'm going to say come back to haunt me.
This type of strong-arming is a typical Dell business strategy; in face I'll go so far as to say it is the ONLY business strategy I've seen Dell use.
As an employee of a Dell channel reseller (I'm not exposing either the channel or the reseller) my experience is that you do business with Dell, or you don't do business with Dell. That's to say you play by their rules, sign a contract, then you are at the mercy of Dell. Dell will determine whether or not they will make it worth your while to sell their products; often this means you're actually paying Dell for the (dis)pleasure of selling their products.
Apple is no better. Apple is actually worse in the sense that they have contractual quotas which require a reseller to sell a certain dollar amount of their products in a given time period or lose reseller status; which is ridiculous since there's almost no demands for their products outside of the Home, Home Office, and Education markets.
I think that the smart consumer is the one that ignores industry rags and websites and talks to knowledgeable friends. Don't have a techie friend? Ask a tech at a local repair shop; hell, you might even end up getting a better than OEM system at a great price, not to mention you're supporting local business.
All of the large OEMs, regardless of niche and channel, manipulate how the public perceives their product. Bad press can be even worse than recalls or manufacturer defects with regard to repeat business. In this case, Dell can suck it.
Eventually, regardless of bad press, if your customers aren't satisfied with your products, you've either got to change your business model to meet their needs, or you go out of business. Dell's at a tipping point for a variety of reasons. I have a few simple suggestions for Dell that will turn it back into a reputable company: Don't intimidate your resellers & the press, stndardize your product lines and work with suppliers to ensure consistency across your product lines, DO NOT OUTSOURCE YOUR TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND CUSTOMER SERVICE, and remember you're not in a high margin business; creating artificial sales goals which are unrelated to market conditions and trends is not wise.
In closing, support your local computer shop if you need a powerful workstation. The only people who should be dealing with the giant OEMs are people who don't know any better!
"But most businesses are made up of more than one person"
What does this have to do with it? All objects are made up of atoms. Does it then follow that "My pencil are broken" is now proper usage?
Where were you when the voynix came?
Consumer Reports isn't perfect.
A good example is the Ford Fusion.
It failed to get any recommendation. Why do I feel this is odd? Simple the Ford Fusion and the Mazda 6 are the same platform. The Ford is cheaper and I admit that the Mazda is prettier but even the reviews seem to be match in each category. The Mazda is listed as recommended while the Fusion isn't.
I don't care what the source is, there will be bias.
Never trust a single source.
But then I would never buy an Alienware computer. If I want a super hot system I will build it myself.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Great strategy on Alienware's part. As this circulates the net, most of their potential customers will know never to believe that an Alienware machine is actually good, regardless of what the reviewers are saying. That'll do wonders for their sales.
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
Incorrect title. It should read, "Website Claims Alienware Rep Admits Trying to Fiddle Reviews."
Not that I've ever owned an Alienware system or would lay out the money for the same components I can get cheaper elsewhere, but a little journalistic honesty would be nice here.
If I were in charge of AW, I'd make sure that Hexus recieved a requested unit for review.
Why?
Simply because if Hexus has been critical in the past of a ('our') product, then when they release a favorable review regarding another of the company's products, it appears much more honest (and thus more trustworthy) than a site that has always had glowingly positive reviews of our product line.
Plus it gives AlienWare a chance to prove that they indeed listen to criticism and intend to correct design (or marketing) deficiencies in an effort to make their product the best it can be (because that's what 'AlienWare' stands for, right?)
Of course, this could also point to the fact that AlienWare knows the new product sucks, so they're avoiding those reviewers that will point out this little fact in an effort to sell as many units before general discontent rears it's ugly head.
The editor of Hexus did kinda come across as a dickweed in his e-mail, but that's forgiven because he's British... I don't think they know how to sound polite.
First off, the reviewer shouldn't be keeping the hardware in the first place. Hardware should be returned once the review is published, else the REVIEWER has a conflict of interest. And if Alienware doesn't want their product reviewed, then they simply miss out on free publicity with the reviwer noting that Alienware declined participation (which makes readers wonder if Alienware thought their product wasn't up to par). That's how the game works. If the reader trusts the reviewer, Alienware is acting in their own disinterest. If the reader doesn't, then the review wouldn't have much of an effect on that reader one way or the other anyway.
Every company does this to some extent. I'm not surprised at all.
Not the lead singer of Coldplay
My wife and I both have identical Alienware laptops. They are great, awesome, amazing. And I will never buy one again. My wife had a Hard Drive fail in hers and she sent it in to get repaired. Now enter the fun part. While her's was still out, I did the slow kid bit and spilled water in my laptop.
Now I acknowledge this is all my fault, voided the warranty, and all that. My dumb fault, period. Nonetheless, I call up Alienware to send in the laptop for repair. I arrange everything, have it shipped USPS express, etc. I kept my tracking slip until it was received, and called to confirm once I saw that it had been. The *ssh@t on the line told me that my laptop was received, and they could confirm it. Two weeks later, I haven't heard anything. I waited this time because I didn't expect miracles with the mess I made. Well, I call, and they claim now they never received the laptop. They had only received my wifes.
The SOB's, when I was unable to immediately provide a tracking number, accused me of lying and having never sent the laptop in the first place. Furthermore they absolutely refused to lift a finger to try to find the laptop. Now, I didn't hold onto the tracking slip, but you can go to your local post office from where you sent your express package, and get a copy of the number. And I did, after several people at Alienware, in so many words called me a liar, and one person flat out did the same.
They eventually found the box. After that it was a two month wait for the replacement motherboard.
So, I will never buy a laptop again from a company that A) accuses me of being a liar without proof, B) will not help a customer unless they could be heald liable, C) actually loses a $3,000 laptop, and D) to a far lesser extent makes me wait 2 months for a motherboard (which by some miracle was the only thing I destroyed.) They did end up sending the whole mess up the chain, and eventually someone did give 10% off the repair cost, but it does not make up for them calling me a liar. The 2 months wait is fine, stuff like that happens all the time, and while annoying I could let go, and the 10% makes up for losing my system in their receiving warehouse, but nothing will repair the part where they called me a liar.
The rightness or wrongness of an act is orthogonal to who does it.
EULAs restricting the publication of benchmarks are wrong, no matter who tries to impose them. And restricting the supply of review samples to publications likely to give favourable reviews is wrong, no matter who does it. Good on Hexus for exposing this fraud.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
"Alienware" is the name of a company. Therefore, it is correct to treat it as a plural.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
"Dell Admit Trying to Fiddle Reviews" ?
I thought Emachines were a piece of crap too. My dad's had been infected with a virus/trojan and didn't work (piece of crap OS--I think it came with WinME and they gave him WinXP to upgrade), so he bought another computer. He gave it to me, and I installed Linux on it. Except for needing --directisa (or some simiar flag) on hwclock, it works flawlessly. It is all integrated and probably not very upgradeable, but overall not a bad machine. I don't know if other models are worse though...
"In Britain companies can be plural or singular depending on context. You would use singular when the company is acting as one e.g. 'Zob corporation is in agreement with the ruling' but plural when the corporate entity is not acting as one e.g. 'Zob Corporation are internally in disagreement about the best way forward'."
That makes as much sense as someone who has an upset stomach or a numb foot referring to themselves in the plural until the bodily disagreement has passed ("I'm healthy and happy today" vs "Our stomach is upset today"). It's still one company, regardless.
Where were you when the voynix came?
You can see company as a collective. Thus "Alienware" would be a macro for "people who are collected together under the name of 'Alienware'". So it is seen as a plural form. Thus "Alienware admit..." translates to
"People who are collected together under the name of Alienware admit..."
It's not standard American, but I believe that something similar to this was the original concept of a company. Thus one may have companions on a hike, and the companions on a hike are a company of hikers.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
There is a little too much editorialising in that article in my opinion, phrases like "People will have been buying Alienware's over-priced, fools-gold systems as a result of corrupt reviews written by corrupt journalists" smack of petulance rather than the staple of a professional review site. I appreciate Hexus are probably wound up by Alienware's apparent policy of no longer sending them hardware, but that's not the way to show it. The whole thing reads like Hexus just basically wanting to give Alienware a bloody nose.
Rebutting each point of an email with assumptions about "what was really meant" don't look that professional either. Nowhere in Bettinson's emails did he explicitly say that "Alienware was demanding that we lie about Alienware's products in future reviews and that the company was surprised that we hadn't lied in our review of the Area-51 7500 system", yet that's what we're told is the hidden subtext.
You also have to question the professionalism of a "Director of Communications & Strategy" who says in an email "i'm of the view that it would be manifest to any right thinking person that you have behaved like a moron [...]".
It all reads like kids playing at business, which is very strange really.
(That's not to say that Alienware aren't ridiculously overpriced, they are - but that's not what this article was about)
I would rather have my pictures of getting my ass whipped by a horde of crazy sado-masochist foot fetishist south african mongolian descent hentai zulu tribe circulate around the internet instead of this news in slashdot, if i were alienware.
Man, am I ever glad you're not Alienware.
Yes, you can dance to Radiohead.
"Review sites... and are effectively on the the dole by accepting both advertisements and "review" hardware from advertisers."
Besides review sites and, in similar circumstances, magazines accepting advertisements and review product, the articles you will find in many magazines discussing hot new products and how great they are etc. (be it a computer, women's fashion, travel, or any other magazine) can be essentially unmarked paid advertising and a part of the deal which gets a full page ad paid for.
RTFM; please, I beg you.
I emphasized slashdot in that even if the buyers of alienware dont frequent here, most regulars of the site are very active "netizens" and the news will spread much wider very fast due to them (us).
Read radical news here
Not really related to Alienware, but I'm actually in the middle of building a new system right now, and have been struggling with three issues while picking components:
Reviewer paradigm: Since so many reviewers depend on the manufacturer's for their samples, they can't piss off the supplier with a bad review on a bad product. Therefore negatives are always cleverly worded, or they do the "ample ashtrays" trick and focus on the useless things that are done right. Professional reviews become almost worthless (mind you, consumer reports doesn't bother comparing evaluating geek parts like mobo's...just general consumer products, so they're worthless in this endeavor, too). On the other hand, try relying on amatuer reviews like Newegg's product feedback, and you can bet that a big chunk of the people who ever bothered to come back and write a review are the one's who had problems, so there's a paradigm shift the other way from that method of research.
Lack of experience: There's a few good exceptions like Toms Hardware and Anandtech, but it seems most sites don't actually test the products they review, they just compare specs. Toms Hardware would be great, but they can't review everything, and they only do one sample of each for a limited duration, so quality control and durability issues don't show up. Amatuer reviews like Newegg shoppers are also usually close to worthless in this regard, because they're usually from kids who just unpacked their new video card or whatever and are so excited to talk about it they just had to go write a review immediately.
Tainted Samples: I can't say for sure whether this is happening, but I've heard accusations of it, and comparing amatuer to professional reviews supports the accusations. It seems manufacturers are often (understandably) careful to send reviewers pre-tested and known to be perfect samples. In particular I noticed that motherboard reviews from the professionals all tended to be very positive and everything worked out of the box. Consumer reviews, however, showed most products to be very mediocre: plenty of DOA's, abnormally warm chips while others report cool running, and buggy BIOS'es...lot's of buggy BIOS'es in fact.
It does make me wonder how much of this Alienware has to go through in deciding what components to offer in their builds.
1. Buy the hardware. 2. Benchmark the hardware. 3. Return the hardware. Am I the only one that isn't missing the obviousness of this?
Their reps buy wares to test as regular customers, without announcing themselves as representatives of the organization.
Getting free stuff is always going to be inducing conflict of interest for the reviewer. The maker of the product will also always be inclined to send them a better version of the product.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Got a reference there? Because the one thing I have never, ever seen CR do is call anything "Hands down best". Their reviews always have qualifiers, and indeed, focus on helping you understand the various trade-offs available.
Come to think of it, I've read all their desktop computer reviews since before eMachines first came out, and eMachines has never been the top rated.
I beleive eMachines has been rated a "best buy", but that is indeed calling it "best value" at its price point. And I'd agree with that rating: about a year ago when I looked for a cheap desktop with no monitor, eMachines was the clear choice if you wanted to stay under $500.
about ride quality, ergonomics, or the ability to pass.
Hello McFly? Ever compared the wind noise inside a well-designed car with the hurricane-level buffeting of a poorly-deisgned one? Ever driven an underpowered car and had a hard time getting out of the way of a dangerous situation, or difficulty merging because you can't get up to speed on a short on-ramp? Ever come up on something unexpected in the road and had to swerve around it and been unsure if the suspension would handle the swerve at speed? Ever had someone unfamiliar with your car drive it and seen them unable to figure out how to work the headlights/wipers? Ever ridden in an under-sprung car and had it bottom out dangerously when you hit a big pothole?
We're not talking about whether they tell you about the ability to drive the car like a Formula One racer, they don't provide even the rudimentary information you need to make an informed car buying decision. If you're concerned about just the ability to reach freeway speeds in a reasonable amount of time, you'll have to look elsewhere. It's not car reviews for consumers as opposed to enthusiasts, it's car reviews for complete idiots. Just like their computer reviews: single-faceted, shallow, and free of essential content. But they'll tell you the location, size, and quality of each and every cupholder in that new SUV.
Sorry if this makes you feel bad about your over-priced subscription to CR's rag, but that's just the way it is.
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Reading TFA (am I unwell?) then this appears really pretty differently. Hexus gave a system a thumbs down review, mostly on price and then solicited the marketing guy for another test system a bit later. He writes back and says that "executives" in the States had instructed him not to send any more kit to them and that in any event it should be pretty logical that they don't want to send the same test rig back for more of the same. Nothing else. The email is very short. Then 'Head of Communication' for Hexus whales in and completely goes off on one and says that the marketing guy is a "moron" and that his email is purile (hello pot calling kettle, over??). He has put 2 and 2 together and made 22 and completely goes off the deep end. Its not even the marketing guy who has said that he is unwilling to send kit - he has been directly instructed by his bosses! The marketing guy then goes back in what is clearly a private email (it even says it on the Alienware email disclaimer) which offers an apology if his email sent the Hexus bloke off on one and in a conversational way suggests they all calm down. Next thing Hexus has published this seriously up itself moralistic mighty-pen-of-freedom piece now they have clearly worked themself up into an almighty tizz. I don't have any problem with someone writing a robust defense of editorial freedom (and it is something that all writers get worked up about) but if you read the blokes emails without the 3 pages of sermonising first its obvious Hexus got themselves in a state about the *idea* that they were being threatened but which is a massive over extension to an email which is "sorry my bosses says I can't send you any more kit" - a message he obviously had to impart somehow otherwise they'd be saying "why don't Alienware send us any systems anymore". The Hexus review uses words like 'corrupt' and 'illegal' and comes across like some hysterical internet rant. Its pretty clear they have libelled the guy and also breached copyright in publishing the emails. But most of all they've made themselves look pretty bloody silly. If that Head of Communications worked for any kind of serious commercial publication he would be sacked not the bloke following orders from his bosses.
All the reviewing sight has to do is buy the hardware (a business expense) and make the review, being straightforward and fair. Also include in the review the experience asking the company for hardware.
The company will learn quickly, especially if the reveiw is unfavorable that trying to fool the public is a bad idea and any strategy for fooling the public to make money will be exposed, and should be in the consumers information when the go to buy a product.
But I am talking about a fair and unbiased review. It's true it might be hard to do when the company had such a bad/vindictive approach.
This would add street cred's to the reviewer and take it away from the manufacturer. Seem fair doesn't it. And seems like proper approach.
"We would be happy to review this product, but unfortunately the company has refused to send us any samples since we [posted] a negative review of one of their products."
-puk
If a company won't send you their product to review since they are afraid you will trash it, you can always suggest to them that if their competitor has a product that sucks that just came out to send it to your for review.
Alienware's official response to this is as follows: "In response to a recent report concerning Alienware's system review process, Alienware would like to take the opportunity to clarify that process. As a matter of long standing policy, Alienware makes no distinctions on who receives a system for review. Alienware offers an equal opportunity to all publications for system reviews. In addition to offering review units to publications, Alienware offers reviewers a unique guidance approach that is available at any point during the review process. The objective of this approach is designed to answer any questions on features, hardware, software benchmarking or any other issues during the course of the evaluation. Furthermore, Alienware does not have access to the review until after publication, but during the review process, Alienware strives to ensure that, if the system is to be compared to another brand, the two systems contain similar hardware specifications - creating an "apples to apples" comparison. Though every effort is made to observe these policies and practices, on occasion, it may be difficult to accommodate the requests of certain publications due to supply limitations or other situations beyond Alienware's control. Alienware has a long standing reputation of excellence in product reviews and we strive to meet those requests when at all possible so that we continue to deliver an unparalleled product reviews experience for our colleagues in the media and, in return, we expect that all media publications exercise fairness and accuracy when reviewing Alienware products." Also, please check out Alienware's response on Hexus, where this all began: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=7113&pa ge=5&search=alienware
I've had horrible experiences with Alienware and won't recommend the machines. My system shipped with the wrong video cards, two 7800GTs in SLI instead of two 7800GTXs. The system has a X-Fi Elite Pro in it, but Alienware does not have the Software Installation CD (with all the little goodies included). So, if I want to reinstall a single item of creative software I need to either Respawn the entire system (Completely wipe everything) or pay Creative 25US$ to have a CD Shipped to me. The system itself came with old Nforce drivers, and efforts to install new drivers failed. Alienware tech support told me not to worry if the driver update seems not to have worked, I don't need it anyway. The system shipped with numerous systems switched off or not configured optimally. The HP CD Label Writer burner didn't have the software installed to burn labels and I had to download it separately. It was certainly not the experience I expected for a >6000US$, Flagship Alienware ALX system. The Alienware 'Adrenaline' (This is just Powerstrip) video card optimizer causes crashes, and I had to turn it off. Although the system is supposed to be 'Water Cooled' I still have to have all three fans running otherwise case temp hits 43degrees celcius. With the fans on it hovers at around 32 degrees celcius. And thus, I will never again recommend nor will I ever purchase a machine from them again.
-Gel214th