Angle Finders for Dummies - The Freelance Files MMXCVII

In the bad old days of content farms, certain freelancers decided that the quickest way to amass a fortune in so-called "passive income" was to write reviews of expensive items. Whether it was vacuum cleaners or SLR cameras, every product had its self-declared "expert," often someone whose expertise extended just about as far as having browsed the reviews at Amazon. Wissley.com had one such fake reviewer who specialized in tools; a guy who called himself Tested-to-Destruction. We've seen his particular brand of rubbish before, and we were heartily unimpressed. That's why we took another look at his catalog and plucked out a likely candidate: "Angle Finder Reviews."

Allen Wrench Reviews for Dummies

Didn't think of hex bit sets didja!

Although we don't get to them very often, fake reviews tend to be one of the pettest of our pet peeves here at the Antisocial Network. The worst, in our opinion, are the freelancers who pretend to have performed a comparison of three, five, even ten of the same item: unless it only cost a nickel, most people just don't buy multiples of the same product. For one, they don't need multiples, for another, there are always other things to spend money on. We ran across a serial fake reviewer at Wizzley.com a while back when he claimed to have Tested to destruction (Ttd) more than $1,000 worth of chop saws. Yeah, sure: the guy just copied "information" from Amazon reviews... the exact same thing he did with another post, "Allen Wrench Set Reviews."

Beginner Guitars for Dummies

Acoustic guitar

When the topic of "wannabe" comes up, at least one of our staffers will always become wistful about the guitar. It seems he's tried, a couple of times (at least), to learn to play the guitar; but to no avail. He does, however, have a few guitars around the house, so when he ran across the Wizzley.com article, "Best Guitar for Beginners," he was curious. Curious, that is, until he recognized the name of Mary F., an inveterate content farmer on the website. He read it anyway, and shared his notes at the next staff meeting.

Table Saw Reviews by Dummies

Bosch 4100-09 Table Saw

A couple of our staffers here at the Antisocial Network came on board not long after review site Epinions.com bit the dust. By itself, that fact probably doesn't mean much, but in the context of recognizing fake product reviews,may not have realized it, one of Epinions' problems was the proliferation of fake reviews, especially of expensive stuff – as the locals often said, "Anything with a cord." Recognizing a fake review is actually easy: there is no personal experience and few, if any, facts that don't come from the manufacturer's specs. Today's DotD nominee, Mary F., pumped out a slew of such reviews for Wizzley.com back in 2012, including "Bosch 4100-09 10-Inch Worksite Table Saw with Gravity-Rise Stand Review."

Forstner Bits for Dummies

A Forstner bit in a drill press

It's been a while since the Antisocial Network team has nailed someone for a fake tool review, but that doesn't mean we don't turn them up on a near daily basis. After all, the damned things are everywhere on the 'net. Some are the "I didn't use it but my hubby did" type, and some are of the "I heard you can make lots of money reviewing tools" type. Today's entry, compliments of a heretofore untapped source of dumbassery, is that latter type. It's "Forstner Bit Reviews," posted by some guy claiming the name Tested_to_Destruction at Wizzley.com. Oh, joy, another content farm to mine...