Pineapple Thief abuse

Well, I happen to like the Pineapple Thief.  But if people are creating fakes just for the sake of boosting an album's ratings, it's just wrong. 

Still, I tend to treat ratings as just for amusement purposes anyway.  Whether I'm going to plunk down money for an album is far much more dependent on the content of actual reviews.  And reviews by people who actually write thoughtful reviews hold even more weight.  Those artists who allow streaming get even more points and likely a purchase if I like what I hear.

So any guilty parties reading this take notice.  I doubt I am alone here on this. Find better things to do with your time like write a thoughtful review.

I might also add that you shouldn't point the finger just at Pineapple Thief fans.  I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't happen for other artists as well.


Edited by Slartibartfast - February 13 2009 at 18:27

Are these one day wonders counted as actual PA members when statistics are give to potential advertisers?  That would seem less than totally ethical.

^I find it a very good idea, though it would be quite difficult(I think) to erase the already posted ratings from those members.

johnobvious wrote: I am trying to do reviews of lesser reviewed albums and pulled out What we Have Sown.  I was surprised to see it has 50 reviews.  Only 6 of these are written, however.  There also seems to be a heavy dose of 5 star reviews by people who were only on the site for one or a handful of days.  But they made sure to review other albums as well to throw off the scent.  Don't know if anything can or should be done.  I might look further into some trends as it looks like a lot of these reviewers reviewed other albums by a lot of the same bands.  Thoughts?

Well I think its another good support argument for the way we low-weight "ratings without reviews" and higher-weight the work of those who have been around and promoted.  It helps prevent fanboys whose intent  is to manipulate ratings upward and nothing more.  Good work documenting these trends....keep it up

Yeah, many of these bands have a loyal following who join the Street Teams or use the official forum. Sometimes an over-zealous Admin will point them towards a review site and then fanboy syndrome takes over. There isn't a lot we can do about it here. Max wants everyone to be able to review albums and makes it as easy as possible so that people will do it as the mood takes them. Obviously this can lead to abuse but RWRs only have a small impact on the overall review score thanks to Max's algorythm. It's also the reason why Collaborator's reviews carry more weight.



Edited by Tony R - February 02 2009 at 05:45

johnobvious wrote: Well, the album is down to 43 reviews with 5 written so maybe an admin excised some questionable ones and didn't tell us.   Though it looks like there are a few more that could go.  I can't really be mad at management.  They set up the site on the honor system and certain jag-offs abuse it.  If you think I am smoking dope, go to Sea of Tranquility and look at their January poll.  Best album of 2008.  40 options.  Guess who is winning?  Pineapple Thief by a wide margin.  I wouldn't want to implicate Bruce in this BS but they certainly have a loyal following it would seem.  A following who isn't afraid to color outside the lines.

The problem, Mr. amcy is that people sign up for an account just to put a 5-star review for the album and never sign in again under that name.  It could be one person putting in multiple accounts.  This goes against the spirit of this site and if found out, action should taken to delete these accounts and reviews.  I never said the SoT poll was fixed.  I just used it as an example that there are fans of the band who may be willing to go above and beyond to get PT more noteriety.  I want to do a review of the album.  I like the album.  I like to review lesser reviewed albums and when I do that, my review carries more weight.  But here, it will not move the scale hardly at all due to one or more fan boys messing with the process.  We certainly do not know if Bruce prodded someone to do it and I would doubt it to a 99.9% degree certainty.  But this is an issue that gives this site less credibilty and I don't like that.  You certainly must like it since you seem to think everything is just fine when there is clear abuse.

there is some major concern about the recent results of an election held by our friends at the sea of tranquility.
 
 
you say you like to review lesser reviewed bands. so now if by chance, someone reads your review and tells a friend, man this group is great, you got to hear this and the two them go and vote for that band you reviewed, is that a vote that has been rigged? or have they abused the voting process by way of the original fanboy? or is the whole survey now one of a tainted nature? i hardly think so but i'd like to hear your answer.
 
if i go on and tell a friend that there's a survey going on over at the sea and he reads the list and then enters a vote is that also considered a fixed vote?
 
do you ever buy anything based on reviews? i don't and probably never will. if someone i know says listen to this your going to love it. i will listen, if i like it i will buy it. most of the time friends get it right but not always. radio play is another way i get to hear new stuff and then i'll look into further. record shops that play something that grabs my ear, i will go and ask what it is that's being played. but very little radio play hear in norway do i consider worth listening to. new york radio used to be much better as far as info about new music. but that's another topic.
 
i have to say you guys are starting to sound like bevis and butthead. yeah,hee he he, lets smash a pineapple with a sledge hammer. he he, yeah yeah ,you vote to much, he he. or maybe, yeah, check this out, smash a watermelon, hee he. yeah yeah. you see what in mean. 
 
i feel compelled to finally say something about this abuse topic in hopes of getting closer towards clarification. as i see it the one being abused here is the thief. your quibbling  about reviews of lesser reviews and go on to squabble about a survey for best CD. i have to admit that some of the dribbling is entertaining while much is senseless drivel. one quick question at this point. if a survey is being conducted for best CD and the fans don't vote for there favorite band,who is supposed to vote in such a survey?
 
furthermore it sounds extremely condescending when people here, continue to use the term, fanboy. as if being a fan is a bad thing.
 
this is your first post.

Topic: Pineapple Thief abuse     Posted: December 09 2008 at 21:17

I am trying to do reviews of lesser reviewed albums and pulled out What we Have Sown.  I was surprised to see it has 50 reviews.  Only 6 of these are written, however.  There also seems to be a heavy dose of 5 star reviews by people who were only on the site for one or a handful of days.  But they made sure to review other albums as well to throw off the scent.  Don't know if anything can or should be done.  I might look further into some trends as it looks like a lot of these reviewers reviewed other albums by a lot of the same bands.  Thoughts?

Edited by sparkslive - February 17 2009 at 13:15

Slartibartfast wrote: And by the way, doesn't all this thief abuse make you want to take a pineapple and a Gallagher sledgehammer and smash the crap out of it spraying the pineapple guts into a crowd of unprotected Pineapple Thief fanboys?

Edited by progadder - February 16 2009 at 17:54

The Jerky Boys reference was obvious to me.  It seems to me that some of the posters on here are just hitting each other with the hot mops and are getting a little testy.   Maybe they need someone to fire some hot clam chowder on them.

What I am most proud of is that I got two guys to sign up to the forum with my rantings!  Yeah for me.