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Good review sites for everything?
Where do you go for decent reviews? Context-i was looking for a site to find good popcorn, and all the results on google for as far as i cared to scroll were fluff (pun intended).
Here’s what i use:
Rtings for stereo.
Wirecutter for appliances.
Reddit for everything else.
And my results are quite mixed, and involve a lot of scrolling.
Where do yall go?
Reddit, for basically anything — and I hate it. Can't search using anything these days without scrapers, and the only way to really find anything is by appending "reddit" to 80% of my searches these days.
I just did this with paint. I had zero idea what paint I needed for a project and the paint cans are confusing as hell and vary wildly in price ($30-$70/gal). Did a quick search for "is <paint brand/type> good? reddit" and quickly found out that it's good enough, so I got the $30 can.
Although it's good to remember that astroturfing (ads/PR presented as authentic comments) is a thing on reddit, so always check a few different threads across a few different subreddits, if possible.
It's not everything, but there was a thread about independent online reviews back in March that you might find helpful.
Dang, how did I miss this? But thank you for adding. Alas, no popcorn reviews in any kf those discussions.
Appending reddit to search queries aside, I’ve found myself going back to word of mouth more and more these days.
Gardening stuff? Ag extension office.
Sporting equipment? Ask a coach.
Entertainment? Social circle.
And so on.
We’ve definitely gone backwards in terms of finding high-quality info on the internet over the past few years. That being said, anyone with a subscription able to speak to the quality of Consumer Reports in particular these days?
My partner’s parents gift us a CR subscription every year, but it’s honestly fine. I haven’t used it to buy anything, but I do look at the reviews after I’ve bought something. Usually what they’re reviewing that month doesn’t line up with what I’m buying.
Coincidentally, I recently ended up on r/popcorn and found some great ideas about what kind to buy and what to avoid. And also a bunch of seasoning recipes. And recommendations about the ideal popcorn salt. And why you should use butterfly popcorn and not mushroom popcorn in an air popper (I didn’t even know butterfly popcorn and mushroom popcorn were things). And generally that popcorn isn’t nearly as simple as I thought it was.
/r/popcorn is a good example of reddit’s true (or maybe redeeming) value.
The more obscure the topic, the better the subreddit usually. /r/greendawn is my go-to example. Just a fun wholesome subreddit of people making little scenes with their green army men.