Ethics of Selling Review Units

[doubleshuffle]

I put the ad in my cart for fun. I was half expecting they'd slap on the seventy-something dollars they charge for shipping to Europe. But they didn't.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

Given the usual quality of their "articles" and "reviews", I wonder how many clients they will attract. Will they charge extra for their usual typos and grammatical errors?

You'll know it's an ad if it is of higher quality than their usual article.

[robko]

Now come on. I'm fully confident that they are selling these review units and now trying to sell ads so that they can refund the Goodereader 13.3 Indiegogo backers that haven't received their units yet due to ...... BBBBBAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAHHHHHAAAAAA .... sorry, that was as as long as I could maintain a straight face trying to peddle that line

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by robko

Now come on. I'm fully confident that they are selling these review units and now trying to sell ads so that they can refund the Goodereader 13.3 Indiegogo backers that haven't received their units yet due to ...... BBBBBAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAHHHHHAAAAAA .... sorry, that was as as long as I could maintain a straight face trying to peddle that line

Are you ok? I hope you didn't hurt yourself while holding that in.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

Well, apparently, they are now hoping to sell more than just review units on their website:



Given the usual quality of their "articles" and "reviews", I wonder how many clients they will attract. Will they charge extra for their usual typos and grammatical errors?

The problem with criticizing them for this is that it is now an industry SOP. Almost everyone else is doing it, so it's not a reasonable criticism to throw at one small blog.

[Nate the great]

that said, I am enjoying the jokes

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

The problem with criticizing them for this is that it is now an industry SOP. Almost everyone else is doing it, so it's not a reasonable criticism to throw at one small blog.

So because everyone else is engaging in it, that makes it alright to purposefully mislead your readers?

Hmmm... especially when one is billing oneself as "the definitive news outlet for e-books, e-readers and digital publishing" and loudly trumpeting one's "high journalistic integrity"?

At any rate, they seem to have had second thoughts about making their practices public. The ad is now gone from their store. However, I have little doubt that the practice remains. Hope more than a few of their readers had the chance to see it.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

So because everyone else is engaging in it, that makes it alright to purposefully mislead your readers?

Hmmm... especially when one is billing oneself as "the definitive news outlet for e-books, e-readers and digital publishing" and loudly trumpeting one's "high journalistic integrity"?

At any rate, they seem to have had second thoughts about making their practices public. The ad is now gone from their store. However, I have little doubt that the practice remains. Hope more than a few of their readers had the chance to see it.

Go read my post again. I didn't say anything about the ethics of doing it.

I was pointing out the inherent unfairness of criticizing one small blog by explaining the context.

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I was pointing out the inherent unfairness of criticizing one small blog by explaining the context.

So it's unfair to criticize one small blog for dubious practices because many others are also engaging in similar behaviour?

Not quite sure I follow that.

Perhaps If I were actively turning a blind eye to what others were doing, it might be different. But I'm not. I would criticize such practices in all, big or small.

Moreover, by claiming to be the "definitive source" in all things ereader and by touting their "high journalistic integrity", they are especially inviting such criticism.

[SleepyBob]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

So because everyone else is engaging in it, that makes it alright to purposefully mislead your readers?

No, but the complaints have a little bit of taste of "Little ebookstore is a terrible company -- they put DRM on the ebooks they sell!"

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by SleepyBob

No, but the complaints have a little bit of taste of "Little ebookstore is a terrible company -- they put DRM on the ebooks they sell!"

Not really an applicable analogy. Putting DRM on ebooks is not a dishonest practice. Masquerading a paid advertisement as a news article of "high journalistic integrity" is a deliberate act of deception. Two very different matters.

Would you claim that it would be unfair to criticize a groper on a subway car simply because many public figures have done the same and worse?

[Nate the great]

deleted

[Dr. Drib]

It looks like I can't purchase an ad and now it's gone, and I SOOOOO wanted to purchase one.

I suppose we all should be kind to tiny little blog sites that want to take our money for nefarious purposes....like for funding other 'undernourished' projects. There are many others out there and they are just as tiny and just as little. I believe in equal opportunity for tiny little blog sites. Don't you?

Following the link from a few posts above, it looks like they've taken the offer down. Anyone else encounter this?

https://goodereader.com/blog/product...-good-e-reader

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

It looks like I can't purchase an ad and now it's gone, and I SOOOOO wanted to purchase one.

Oh, I am sure that if you have money, they would still be willing to take it. I suspect that cash might be their preferred option at the moment.

Interestingly, Peter has changed his profile on their now defunct Indiegogo campaign page so that it now just says "P" instead of his full name which he previously used. Not very encouraging.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the mention of class action lawsuits that some of their disgruntled backers are openly contemplating in the comments section.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/1...ader#/comments

[Question Mark]

It turns out that you can still advertise with Good eReader. They are indeed willing to take your money.

As it happens, there are many more options than previously listed in their store. For example,

Sponsor the Newsletter – $299 – We send out weekly issues of the newsletter with our top stories to the whose who of the digital publishing, e-Book and e-reader industry. If you want to reach these ultra valuable people directly, you can sponsor our newsletter and have a dedicated story written about you.

https://goodereader.com/blog/advertise

You'd think that they might actually make the effort to proofread their material when soliciting funds for a newsletter being sent to the WHO'S WHO in the digital publishing and ereader related world