Bye Bye Epinions--Hello Viewpoints!
| Pros |
|
| Cons |
|
So last Friday night you ate at this superb restaurant. The food was really great and the service was excellent, but the car you recently purchased from "Honest Abe's Used Cars" broke down on the way home.
But that ain't the worst of it. Honest Abe refused to honor the money-back guarantee, so you sued him, but the law firm handling your case totally messed up your case. The law firm being "Dewy, Cheetum and Howe."
You so much want to relieve your pent up enthusiasm or hostility for various products and services. Well I can totally relate. I relieved myself by writing reviews at epinions.com, but became very dissatisfied with epinions.
I decided to try Viewpoints.com, and I am so glad I did! What a fantastic site this is!
The first thing I noticed was the photo upload feature. I didn't have to post my photos at another site and then try to link to them like they make you do at epinions.
I was also impressed when I read the fine print. Viewpoints actually tells you how to succeed as a writer here if that is your goal. By contrast, epinions uses some mysterious algorithm to decide who gets promoted. As a result, a writer who has not written as well or as much as you, could be promoted while you get to eat his dust. Here at Viewpoints, I was rewarded for my efforts with a simple-thanks $20 gift certificate. At last, someone appreciates my genius. LOL!
But wait! There's more! At epinions, if I wanted to write about a product that was not in their database, I had to contact the "Category Lead." I had to get on my knees and pucker up. I had to fill out forms. Yeah...right! Like I really wanna fill out forms. Viewpoints, on the other hand, is brilliant! They let me add stuff I want to write about to their database myself, and make it easy.
And, once you submit your review, you won't be judged by a pack of designated trolls with tiny blue wieners. You are free to write in your own style, and as long as your review is rated PG, you can be assured that it will be visible and won't be blocked from the public's view.
There are no negative ratings here at Viewpoints. What a concept! You can give a reviewer a "good point" or not, but you can't give him/her a "Not Helpful" rating and cause unnecessary resentment.
You can add a reviewer to your friends list or not, but you can't block the reviewer or otherwise deprive the general public their right to decide for themselves whether they want to read or pass on the reviewer's content. When I first joined, Jolie added me as a friend like Tom did at Myspace. What a nice gesture.
And that brings me to the Viewpoints staff. They have the best PR skills on the internet--hands down! When I left epinions, I felt like I escaped from a concentration camp. When I joined Viewpoints, I felt like I climbed out of the sewer and into the light of day.
The site has very attractive graphics and makes other sites look tacky. I find it easy to navigate as well. My only disappointment is there doesn't seem to be any review hit-count statistics, but that's no biggy. How I'm treated is the most important element.
So, if you're on a power-trip or you're a doormat, you probably won't be happy here. But if you want to be around classy, courteous and talented people, and enjoy reading and/or writing reviews, you will love Viewpoints.com.
Thank you, Viewpoints, for bringing the best out of me and others. It does not surprise me that your site is rocketing to the ionosphere of search rankings (see alexa.com search ranking statistics). :-)
Update: Viewpoints now has a stats tab on your profile page where you can check your stats. Yeeeehaaaaw! Also, if you're the type who likes to vote no on a sucky review, you can do that now too.
NOTE: the reviewer indicated that they are affiliated with Viewpoints
Last edited on Jun 02, 2008
Viewpoints is recommended by williampinn
Comments about williampinn’s Review
