DP Review Credibility

[gerryr]

I had always had a fair amount of respect for DP Preview, until today. A couple of weeks ago Nikon announced 2 new cameras, D3 and D300. They will be available for sale until November or December. DP Preview already has "owner" ratings posted for both cameras. Here's a quote from one of them on the D3, "this is basically the best camera ever made, period." In the future I'll be looking elsewhere for reviews of cameras because DP Preview has no credibility.

 

[Dario]

Gerry,

I don't usually read owner's reviews. The one I use (and trust) is the site review.

It is like saying you won't visit IAP anymore because of a TROLL (if you encounter one here). We had a few TROLLS's but hope that didn't take the credibility of IAP as a site away. []

 

[gerryr]

Dario,
What does in their credibility for me is the very fact that they allow "owner" reviews of a camera that nobody can even buy yet. Well, actually Nikon dealers are currently taking orders, but nobody actually has one. The site is still useful for specs, but that's about it as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Dario]

Well, you sure are free to feel that way.

I've read enough here about site maintenance from Jeff that maybe the (DPReview) site owner didn't anticipate that scenario or it is not easily done. Regardless for me that doesn't matter since I only use Phil Askey's review anyway.

BTW, I've NEVER seen any product review site that is 100% reliable. You will see great products being slammed and really bad ones getting glowing reviews. Who is giving those? I bet either the product makers themselves or their competition. I read them all and usually get the average...or maybe take out the xx amount of top and worst reviews.

 

[Randy_]

Originally posted by gerryr
<br />Dario,
What does in their credibility for me is the very fact that they allow "owner" reviews of a camera that nobody can even buy yet. Well, actually Nikon dealers are currently taking orders, but nobody actually has one. The site is still useful for specs, but that's about it as far as I'm concerned.

It's not uncommon for manufacturers to do pre-release tests to turn up bugs that their in-house QC folks have missed. Maybe Nikon made available a small number of the cameras to testers for trial review even though they are not available to the general public yet.

Rather than bad-mouthing DP Review in a public forum based on some pretty weak speculation, why don't you contact them, first, and give them a chance to explain the apparent conflict? I'm sure that is a courtesy you would like extended to your business if there were a problem so why not extend the same courtesy to them?

There is plenty of time to complain later if they can't offer a satisfactory explanation or just won't talk to you at all.

 

[gerryr]

Nikon has not made the camera available, even to long time Nikon Pros. The issue for me is what does it say about them when they allow people to post reviews and rate a camera that is not even on the market yet. Many of the people posting are saying it's absurd, yet they're giving these cameras a rating of 1-5 stars when they admit they don't have one. Reviews by users are a lot more useful to me than reviews by people who only have a camera for a couple of weeks. This makes all the reviews on the site suspect.

 

[Dario]

Gerry,

Again, your idea is great but probably difficult to implement.

The owner/user review area is like a forum and basically anyone can say what they want including review ratings. This freedom makes the reviews great but as you pointed out, can be abused too. The world is not a perfect place and if they (DPReview) implement something like your idea, others may complain too and viewed it as a form of censorship.

Pleasing everyone is almost impossible.

 

[gerryr]

The point is that the cameras being reviewed are not even available to purchase. They should not allow people to write reviews on something they can't even buy.

 

[gketell]

Gerry,

I think we all agree with you that it "should" not be able to happen. Sadly technology doesn't always keep up with reality so the software apparently doesn't have a "open for reviews after such and such date". It is just open for reviews.

Besided, a review like that one isn't worth diddly to anyone anyway. Dario's point, and I agree with him, is don't let this little software bug completely color your opinion of the usefulness of the site. WHEN real reviews are available the site will be immensely valuable.

GK