10
Trip or Treat!
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
THE BATTALIAS
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3
Here’s what I think
Consumer review sites help others give their opinm
By Doug Bedell
THE KRT CAMPUS
After four years of telling the
world what he thinks about beer,
Mexico vacation spots and Latin
music, Mark Stevens of Houston
recently experienced an
epiphany.
"I’m rethinking things," says
the prolific 43-year-old
Epinions.com free-lance writer.
"I've written 664 reviews. It's a
book, and I didn't really get paid
for producing it. I should really
be getting royalties for all that
work."
But Stevens and thousands of
other Net denizens seem addict
ed to sharing their thoughts with
the world.
Whether it is a $20 toaster or a
$10,000 plasma television moni
tor, thousands of people like
Stevens spew their views on Web
sites such as Epinions.com,
BizRate.com, PriceGrabber.com,
Amazon.com and
ResellerRatings.com for little or
no compensation.
"It's part of my life now,
absolutely," says Dallasite Chidi
Eriken, 27, who has written
more than 300 reviews of hip-
hop and other music for
Epinions.com since 2001.
"When I listen to a CD these
days, it's hard to listen just for
enjoyment. I'm always thinking,
'What do I say here? What am I
going to write about this?"'
Both Stevens
(www.Epinions.com/user-mrk-
stvns) and Eriken
(www.Epinions.com/user-
madtheory) are among the top
Epinions.com contributors in
their specialties. The two Texans
typify the Internet opinion writ
ers in several ways.
First, they are driven.
"A lot of them started for the
money, but we don't pay them
enough anymore to be in it alone
for the money," said Alexis
Johnson, Epinions.com commu
nity product manager. "When
you get to the high class, the
very prolific, they pick areas
that they know the most about.
Louis DeLuca • KRT CAMPi
Chidi Eriken has posted more than 30 reviews of hip hop and other music since 2001 on Epinions.com. 'You me
the people who leave comments on your reviews, and it's addictive like that," he says.
They are all very passionate
about those things."
In the case of Stevens, his co
workers and family knew he could
ferret out a good price on travel.
"For a while, 1 was really
intensely interested in always
scarfing the absolute rock-bot
tom cheapest deal," said the
Houstonian, who by day is a
writer of technical documents.
Go to PCPhotoReview.com,
and you'll find dozens of ama
teur experts conversing about
digital cameras. Hit
Tivocommunity.com, and
you'll encounter thousands of
TiVo users with an almost reli
gious devotion to understand
ing the personal video
recorder's innards.
But the opinionfest isn't lim
ited to pricey electronic pur
chases. People such as Sara
Ascalon of Bayside, N.Y., dash
off dozens of reviews.
Her first Epinions submis
sion blasted faulty service from
AT&T for her cell phone. Later,
she waxed eloquent on her
Bissell Powersteamer carpet
cleaner. She followed that with a
vicious diatribe on her Proctor
Silex toaster.
"Prior to the Internet, if you
wanted to get consumer infor
mation, you generally turned to
people that you knew _ your
friends or your co-workers,"
said Andrew Gershoff, associate
professor of marketing at
Columbia Business School.
"Now that available network has
expanded all over the world and
across the country."
And that leads to the second
common component among
habitual consumer reviewers:
They revel in the two-way com
munication that their reviews
generate. Most consumer review
sites allow comments to be
tagged onto an author's work.
"I'm continuously shocked
by the friendships that form
online," says Johnson. "We host
these meet-and-greet sessions
for our best reviewers. They'll
walk in and see a name on a
nametag and just go nuts. It's
almost as if it was a longtime
friend from high school they'd
lost track of for years."
"You meet the people who
leave comments on your
reviews, and it's addictive like
that," said Eriken. "It's just an
online community to me now.
It’s not about profit."
No matter the motivation o!
the reviewer, consumers seekini
information have to learn whicl
reviewers best match tte
tastes. On Epinions and seven!
other review sites, the Wei
interface allows users to weigli
the opinions of those they trust
Also, consumer reviewers art
most likely to write about a pr#
uct or service they really liked
dislike.
"People in the middle are less
likely to say anything," Gershof
said. "And if you’ve evaluated
something like a toaster aftei
you've bought and used it, youit
more likely to post a positive
review. You've already make Ik
commitment. You've jumped.
"It doesn't represent a tnie
sampling of all toasters out then
Stevens calls review sits
another tool in an expanding t
sumer arsenal.
"1 think it's one nm informa
tion source," he said. "1 don't
think you can rely on themexclu
sively. I don't think that a con
sumer review is necessarily as
good as a critical review by some
body who does it professionally.
You need a critical perspective,"
Tuesday
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Business group turns
over records, no names
AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas
Association of Business on
Monday turned over to a grand
jury all records related to its
2002 elections advertising cam
paign, minus the names of its
individual and corporate donors.
After months of legal battles,
the state’s largest business lobby
turned over the records after the
names were redacted as allowed
under an order from state
District Judge Mike Lynch,
association attorney Andy
Taylor said. The TAB had been
fighting to keep the names
secret.
Earlier Monday, the U.S.
Supreme Court refused to block
Lynch’s order to produce the
documents.
“We appreciate this opportu
nity to comply with the district
attorney’s request for informa
tion while protecting the First
Amendment rights of TAB and
its supporters,” Taylor said.
“From the start, that has been
our chief concern.”
Travis County District
Attorney Ronnie Earle had
moved to enforce punishments
Lynch had handed down earlier
this year against three associa
tion officials who refused to
comply with subpoenas for the
records.
The grand jury is investigat
ing whether the group violated
state law that forbids corpora
tions from spending money on
electioneering. Association
lawyers have argued the organi
zation is beyond state regulation
because the ads in question did
not advocate the election or
defeat of candidates and that
they were protected speech
under the First Amendment.
Taylor said organization offi
cials will testify if called before
the grand jury.
Trial
Continued from page 1
severe now than they have been
in the past years.”
College Station Municipal
Judge Edward Spillane, who will
be playing the role of judge in
the mock trial, said the trial
should be a good teaching tool.
“I think the information will
be very helpful and it’s good for
people to understand how seri
ously the law takes it,” Spillane
said. “I want the students to
understand the consequences
and for them to see it is a fair
Gaza
Continued from page 1
the same structure that was hit in
an earlier airstrike Monday, res
idents said. Eleven people were
wounded, they said. Israeli mili
tary sources said the attack was
meant to finish the work of the
first one.
The first three air strikes
Monday destroyed two weapons
labs and warehouses of Hamas,
the military said. Four children
system, but while the system is
fair, it is also very tough on peo
ple in alcohol related accidents,”
Four thousand fatalities
nationwide per year are attrib
uted to drinking while driving,
with Texas leading the nation
overall, Thurmond said
Alcohol related accidents ate
especially prevalent among 18-
24-year-olds with driving while
intoxicated listed as the numbfl
one killer of college-age indi
viduals, Reardon said.
“We know college kids drinl
a lot but there’s a price to pay,
Thurmond said. “Is it worth if
and a 70-year-old woman were
among 25 wounded. Two mis
siles exploded on a street crowd
ed with schoolchildren.
During three years of vio
lence, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza
have caused dozens of civilian
casualties. In April, an air attack
killed Hamas leader Said
Arabeed and eight other people
In July 2002, 15 people weft
killed, including nine children.it
an airstrike that targeted anotk'
Hamas leader, Salah Shehadeh.
»
3
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