Should have...
... reviewed the model sitting on the chair, she looks a lot more interesting :)
Each week we receive dozens of link-to-article requests from tech websites. Much as we want to oblige, we rarely have time to read the articles, let alone link to them. Sumo Lounge Couple Sway Bean Bag with one person, a young woman, sitting on it We make an exception for this, from BigBruin.com and its review of the Sumo …
A bit gushy and sounds as if it was written by the manufacturer's marketing team, but it tells you that the fabric is indeed soft (corduroy is often hard, because it's hard-wearing) and that the cover can be taken off and washed. The manufacturer might say so, but a true customer (if this indeed from a customer) might contradict i.e. 'they say it's machine washable but i ended up taking it to a dry-cleaner and even THEY couldn't shift Fluffy's fur from it'. So what's the problem?
Most pointless review would have been 'Good chair.'
"'they say it's machine washable but i ended up taking it to a dry-cleaner and even THEY couldn't shift Fluffy's fur from it'"
Next time save your dry cleaning money & add a quarter cup of white vinegar to the rinse water. Trust me, try it. Here at Chez jake, damn near everything sheds ... even the chairs ;-)
Interesting to note that the 'eruption' link (http://wosblog.podgamer.com/2010/07/21/benchmark-reviews-busted-more-like/) now leads to an 'Account Suspended' page....
I suspect, from the timing and recent comments from a Benchmark Reviews writer then the following reply from the author, that Benchmark Reviews have really got their knickers in a twist about this.
The long and the short of it was that BR have published a fawning review of a $1200 chair which seems to be mainly copied from a press release, yet claimed to be independently authored and a critical review. The WoS article called them on this and pointed out that comments on the BR page which asked about this had been deleted, then his IP blocked.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=562&Itemid=58
Make your own mind up, but there are lots of phrases which are never used by human beings - only ever in press releases.
As mentioned by AC 16:55, Benchmark Reviews have issued a DMCA takedown notice against the page linked to in the article.
However, as is traditional there's a nascent Streisand effect on the rise....
The original critic's homepage is at www.worldofstu.co.uk where one can find a forum which has a thread about this whole palava here: http://s2.zetaboards.com/worldofstuart/topic/5093413/1/
The long and the short of it is that the original page is on the way to being restored, and http://wosblog.wordpress.com/ is currently up and running.
There's also a metafilter article about it here:http://www.metafilter.com/93993/Corruption-in-the-chair-world
Apologies to our dear moderatrix for the many links to other sites, but it is interesting* to see what lengths Benchmark Reviews are going to in an attempt to silence and remove from the interwibble someone who is making a criticism of their 'review'.
* - for specific values of 'interesting'....
I love writing pointless reviews. It's almost impossible to buy anything now without being asked to submit a review on it so I usually like to go a bit mental if the item's really mundane.
I think the most mundane item I was aksed to review was a plastic petrol where I waxed lyrical about how amazing it was but the review seems to have gone now :(
Having worked for an online furniture retailer I can attest to how dull it is to write reviews of chairs. I have seen many more pointless reviews than this...simply writing "modern classic" is easy but not very helpful. This review did at least give details on the feel and washability of the fabric etc...that will be relevant to a lot of people.
Re. the link to the gaming chair you reviewed a couple of years ago, I created a cheaper solution with a couple of Nissan Micra seats: http://tinyurl.com/2wmyfzo (a setup now long defunct)
I have several bits of kit with ridiculously bright LEDs (usually blue) where I would love to be able to turn them down, especially on the Freeview box in the bedroom.
Until the day everything has a super sensible brightness knob, a small square of duct tape does the job quite nicely...
"Just to drive this point home of how large the packaging is, we actually had to take the door off of its hinges to get it inside. It probably wouldn't have been the case if we'd bothered to take it out of the box, but we weren't sure what to expect so we left it in"
Lemme think, beanbag, soft and floppy. Doorframe not. Obviously written by marketing people.