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Does MR Ever Change?
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[quote]QUOTE: <i>Originally posted by IRONROOSTER</i> <br /> <br />MR reviews (and most others except for Consumer Reports) provide descriptive material about the item ... What it doesn't provide is value judgments...[/quote] <br /> <br />Most others don't provide value judgments? Most others are just descriptive? You're simply flat out wrong here. The demonstrable reality is that _most_ other magazines do <i>exactly</i> that: offer a judgment - hopefully based on informed expertise and the facts at hand, but a judgment nevertheless. <br /> <br />Pick up a car and driver and look for the "hits" and "misses" for each car reviewed. Read the text where they flat out say things like "Car X is a better value in the same price range as this one." I defy you to find a car magazine that doesn't review cars substantively - they'd be out of business in 10 minutes because the readers would desert them. <br /> <br />Pick up nearly any audio or video magazine - <i>Audiophile</i> is the one I happen to subscribe to, but I can't think of one that does _not_ have actual reviews. Again, a camera magazine without real reviews wouldn't last long. <br /> <br />Pick up any issue of <i>Men's Health</i> and you get qualitative ratings of various products. If I dig into my wife's magazine pile here, I see issues of <i>O</i> with reviews. Here's a copy of <i>Shape</i> reviewing workout DVD's - and they full out trash one of them. <br /> <br />Even a 'laddie' rag like <i>Maxim</i> does real reviews with ratings and recommendations for things like (I distinctly recall this from the last issue I read in my brother-in-law's bathroom) single-malt scotch. RATED, not just described. <br /> <br />The reality is, again, the value the magazine brings is their expertise - and hopefully their impartial expertise. If they refuse to share that and do a vanilla-fied 'just the facts ma'am' review, it has little value. <br /> <br />The reality is _most_ magazines do judgment-based product reviews - it's too valuable to the reader - and I mean real reviews that give some insight and guidance to the reader. <br /> <br />I'd even forgive the lack of judgment or ratings if the information was thorough and rigorous, actually allowing me to make an informed decision myself. <br /> <br />But this is rarely the case in MR. Unfortunately the landscape is such that there's one 800-pound gorilla (MR) and a lot of skinny little chimps who don't have critical mass to really drive healthy competition. Result: MR can get away with bunkum reviews so long as we accept them and buy into pure nonsense like "but most magazines don't do that either"... <br /> <br />What do I mean by "bunkum reviews"? The DCC guide is the case in point. One clear example: giving me a listing of "yes" or "no" for whether each system offers wireless throttles is virtually meaningless. <br /> <br />It's rather like rating an automobile and saying "climate control system: yes or no"... You'd end up with a Kia and a Bentley looking pretty much identical... and that's exactly what happens here: Look at the "grid" closely and consider that systems costing massively different amounts look virtually the same "by the grid"... So I should buy the cheaper one? Of course not! I'm simply missing information that clarifies _why_ the other system is so much more expensive. <br /> <br />The point is that doing it this way allows you to basically say nothing and thus ensure nobody at Kia or Bentley or anyone in-between can write the publisher a nasty note about it... <br /> <br />In general, the monthly MR product reviews are pure pablum. Nothing negative is ever said and the whole thing is waffle-language. Most of them aren't even very fact-based, it's all "paint job is credible" and "operation was reasonably smooth"... In the category of "how many words does it take to say nothing substantive?" they'd do a candidate for political office proud. <br />
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