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crazygringo

> I haven't trusted Wirecutter since they were offering recommendations for kickbacks.

Do you have a source for that? I don't think that's ever been true.

They've always had affiliate links, but they've also always been clear that doesn't affect their recommendations.

You might be referring to this: https://www.xdesk.com/wirecutter-standing-desk-review-pay-to...

But it was pretty totally debunked. The NYT made a lengthy reply explaining:

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/our-response-to-nextdesk/

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It may or may not affect their recommendation, but it may affect what products they review in the first place. So instead of the "The Best TV you can buy", it's more like "The Best TV you can buy from a company with an affiliate program"

Can you call it a debunking when it's written by the accused?

That reply just says "no we don't, trust me bro".

The reply says a ton more than that. It goes into quite a lot of detail.

Of course you're free to come to whatever conclusion you want. But I don't really know what more you could ask for.

I think the very fact that the CEO of a review site contacted the makers of a reviewed product and asked for money is bad enough.

As someone who had zero knowledge of this and isn't trying to be snarky, do you have a link to that? I searched around and found some stuff, but it's pretty old.

The same thing linked above:

https://www.xdesk.com/wirecutter-standing-desk-review-pay-to...

I don't know what you are trying to argue but the facts are abundantly clear about what happened -- 1, nytimes/wirecutter did f*ck up the whole thing -- The editorial team and the business team weren't on the same page 2, despite all that happened, editorial team acted independently and their pick still stood. If you don't trust their editorial independence, you shouldn't trust any other review by another publication or random Internet user either.

That's just what I said though. I trust a non-profit publication that does reviews as a public service (Stiftung Warentest), and I trust random internet users who just want the best product with no skin in the game (Reddit).

I don't trust for-profit review sites that have a financial incentive to pick one product over the other, like Wirecutter.

They asked if they have an affiliate program, or were willing to set one up.

That's the standard business arrangement for almost any review site. It's how they pay their reviewers.

When nextdesk said no, they still kept it as their recommended desk for a year, and then, when they switched it, they switched to one that also didn't have an affiliate program, and still kept nextdesk as the "upgrade" pick.

It's really hard to see any evidence that the money affected their editorial decisions.

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