Hacker News Reader

Comment by aiisjustanif | Hacker News Reader

I’m going to dissent here on this thread because I’m not seeing any references. I personally feel the quality of Wirecutter has gone down since NY Times just a bit. However, after almost a decade of reading Wirecutter they have overwhelming provided a decent “why you should trust us” section for staple consumer items. There is a good example from just today. [1] You can always say they should do more, but honestly they do more research that many others in the space.

[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-conditio...

View on HN

>> They didn't actually try any of the products themselves (they admitted as much in the article).

> I’m going to dissent here on this thread because I’m not seeing any references.

OK, here's one such reference in "The Best Baby Formula" [1]:

> We didn’t do any testing for this guide, because babies have minds of their own, and it would be impossible to control for all of the variables that might make a baby prefer one formula over another.

Now there might be various reasons why actually testing the product is difficult or unnecessary to produce a helpful, well-researched review article, but there are definitely examples of this.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-baby-formula...

That seems justified. (IMO I’d want a review of the ingredients, then it’s up to my kid to prefer flavours.) That choice isn’t related to the choices for products for adults, which is what we care about.

The only point was to confirm that Wirecutter doesn't always actually test all of the products they review, regardless of whether it's (arguably) justified in each individual case.

It was postured to whether is is justified or not because the commenter said if true then..

> It was very strange and very disappointing.

To which I replied that Wirecutter delivers on many occasions and is still a good review site that does do research on most staple consumer products.

Eh, it'd be easy enough to give samples to 10 different babies to at least see if they have any flavors they prefer. Obviously digestive issues are another matter but your kid drinking it without hassle is the first hurdle.

Doing research on live humans is more complicated than that

Testing is different from research.

Tell that to the person I replied to…

> a Wirecutter article and the research was essentially just what they themselves pieced together from online sources. They didn't actually try any of the products themselves.

They are saying research is trying the product aka testing…

This actually speaks a lot in favor of Wirecutter. I wish more guides would be upfront about limitations like this and this is a very reasonable justification.

In general, when a company gets bought out, quality tends to drop. Maybe not immediately, but definitely with time. The new owners have to make back their money and they'll start to cut corners wherever they can. These cuts, even if small, eventually have a negative impact.

I've lost a lot of faith in Wirecutter after NYT bought them out. This is my own very subjective feel on the topic and this article has vindicated my feelings.

> In general, when a company gets bought out, quality tends to drop.

I think you can simplify that to "in general, quality tends to drop."

It isn't malicious; it's reversion to the mean. An organization's reputation comes from its high-water mark of making the most impact and having the widest reach, and being solidly average after that looks like a step back.

This correlates to buyouts because would-be corporate parents (obviously and understandably) want to associate themselves with the prestigious up-and-comer.

However, replacement-level output doesn't compare to the historic highs. This is made more visible because the buyout acts as a nice "before/after" marker even if it has no structural impact, and it remains in the public eye because a high-profile corporate overlord can't let their new acquisition fade into obscurity.

See also the results of Electronic Arts' independent studio buyouts, where they buy out a developer at the top of their game only to see quality fade before corporate meddling sets in.

I'd love for Tim Heffernan of Wirecutter to respond to this article. It seems pretty damning and I think it hurts his credibility.

"Why you should trust us" or not, I take issue with Wirecutter specifically with their air purifier reviews. They've continued to recommend Blueair and Coway despite being faced with complaints. I don't care why Wirecutter claims you should trust them but I do care when they just stick their head in the ground WRT feedback.

The have 30 BBB complaints that are all resolved… [1]

[1]: https://www.bbb.org/us/il/chicago/profile/air-purification-s...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com