Anybody watch Steve Huff audio on the Tube?

published reviewers’ entanglements, subtle pay-o-la and how their objectivity/integrity inevitably becomes clouded is longstanding and well known to those who have been around or in the industry for some time ... the internet and youtube is just another manifestation of the same ... it is all about trying to influence purchasers, and the economic web between manufacturers, retailers and media can be complex and somewhat hidden from view, but it is there, to be sure

old saying... when you are wondering who the sucker is in the room, it’s you... by sharing this information with us, capturing our eyeballs, who gains?  

best everyone coming here for advice and knowledge understand this, and thus take all such reviews with appropriate grains of salt ... consider it ’entertainment’ and hold on to your wallet...

🙄

This very thread is part of what’s wrong in the world.

seriously? ... 🤔

I only have cared about his reviews where he likes something I own.

+1 @wolf_garcia ...  now THAT’s funny 👌👍

I don’t know about the "payola" accusations...

’tis true a sucker born every minute 🤣

Anytime somebody accuses one of these people of ’payola’ or some such, I just say ’prove it’.

I’ve got a lot more reason to believe somebody who is putting it out there on his YouTube channel than ’some guy on the internet’ spouting off anonymously on a forum.

hardly interested in proving it... you believe what you want...

folks who don’t care to understand the eco-system of how online and print reviewers get gear, keep gear, get requests from manufacturers, allow manufacturers to comment/edit their drafts, get co-opted... purely accidental correlation between rated stereophile components, reviews published, ads run... then some makers then don’t advertise for a while, their formerly recommended item gets dropped as it has been ’too long since reviewed’ ... how rave review quotes magically show up in ads run in subsequent issues ... all happily odd coincidences and circumstances, right? 👍

not even touching on you-tube economics, click bait incentives... of course, this vid is about the next big thing, best ever... wow!!! lookee here! 🙄

well, ’head in sand’ life can be good... sometimes...

this isn’t to say that what reviewers write can’t be trusted... crooked refs in sports make good calls too, but one needs to understand how they are benefitting, and how the strike zone is being skewed or embellished by ’fringe benefits’ - see tim donaghy nba...