Expanding our product reviews for the blog

Question

The Super User Blog has reviewed in the past a few products from other companies. I would like to propose that we expand this even further. I would like to setup a system whereby either users or companies can request reviews of products for the blog. The basic process flow would be as follows:

A User has a desire to review a product:

1. The user expresses interest in a product they would like to review/be reviewed
2. The request is placed in a 'queue' to be processed
3. Either a SE employee or designated blog.SU editors contact the companies asking if they have any products to be reviewed
4. We get the product, and the user reviews the product

A Company wishes for a Super User to review their products:

1. A company wishes to have blog.SU review some of their products
2. This is placed into a 'queue' where blog editors/authors can connect with the company and select the products they wish to review
3. The product is shipped to the editor/author, and they review the product on the website

This intermediary 'queuing' systems can be as simple as meta questions tagged reviews.su or, if enough interest from both sides is expressed, something like Careers.SO is created but called Reviews.SU. (personally I would prefer creating a Review.SU site, but I know that would take a lot of work from SE)

What's in it for me?

If you're a Super User:

• You get stellar reviews from trusted Super User's where we aren't biased in our assesment
• You get the opportunity to try out new/upcoming tech for free!

If you're a company:

• You get honest reviews and feedback of your products
• You get to share your products with a site that has significant traffic

Answer 1

I'm going to have to say, I don't like the idea.

On the one hand, people would appreciate honest reviews of products, but I don't think that's really what we had in mind when we envisioned the scope of the blog. While it's one thing to write about a gadget you happened to purchase and like, it's another to actively solicit or entertain solicitations from companies on a community blog. The blog extends the core of the site, which is to share expert information. Reviews, which when positive become endorsements, get too far away from that.

That's not to say you can't do them; if you bought a new SSD and you were so enamored with it that you felt simply compelled to tell the world how much you liked it - go for it. To me, that's as honest as a review can get. I think codifying a means to make these happen systematically takes away from that value, and possibly credibility. I know these are envisioned to be completely non-biased, but you'll frequently get the hecklers that say you rigged the tests.

There are just too many potentially icky things that could go wrong, I don't think the idea is bad, but this isn't the best platform for it.

Answer 2

I'll write some more thoughts later, but on first glance, this seems like a good solution to the "should we seek out partnerships" discussion. I think a lot of people were put off by the phrase partnership, as it implied some sort of corporate relationship that might give outside companies an unfair influence on the site. I think we can all agree, that's not what anybody (here) wants.

A system like this would give us a formal method of conducting reviews and contacting companies, without needing to form any permanent corporate partnership.

I would suggest a rule that a blogger cannot put a new review request in the queue until they've published any previous reviews that they have requested. This will help ensure that blog posts get published on a more regular basis, and not leave companies hanging.