Kamikaze
This month if ordered a new camera, 2 filters, hot shoe spirit level, neoprene case, lens caps, left handed scissors, first reader books, USB adapters, cables, but all to the UK. My dad is bringing them out when he visits in 9 days. I've been bombarded with amazon review requests. I;ve not had the chance to use any of it yet. You'd think they'd ask in a month. If you have something new, you'll be busy using it t care about reviewing, and how can you give a good review for something as complex a digital camera, without having had a chance to use it properly. These things are full of functions nowadays. Things like cables may work well the first few days and g a little funky.
 

Hope it's no to too cynical but, maybe they ask for the reviews so soon so they get a positive before anything goes wrong. You wouldn't have to be too smart to figure out the chance of something failing increases with time.

Kamikaze
This month if ordered a new camera, 2 filters, hot shoe spirit level, neoprene case, lens caps, left handed scissors, first reader books, USB adapters, cables, but all to the UK. My dad is bringing them out when he visits in 9 days. I've been bombarded with amazon review requests. I;ve not had the chance to use any of it yet. You'd think they'd ask in a month. If you have something new, you'll be busy using it t care about reviewing, and how can you give a good review for something as complex a digital camera, without having had a chance to use it properly. These things are full of functions nowadays. Things like cables may work well the first few days and g a little funky.
 

I wish more people would wait to use a product for a while before writing a review. My top rated review on Amazon is for a popular brand of humidifier, which was great at first but develops a leak after a month or so. I've had 2 replacements which both did the same thing, and many other people have left bad reviews citing a similar experience. However most of the reviews are positive and seem to be from people who went off their initial impression of the unit, which admittedly performs very well at first. 
 
This is the issue I have with some reviews on sites and blogs. They're based off of an afternoon of playing with  the thing, when in reality you need to put something through its paces for at least a few weeks to get a good idea of how it stands up to repeated use. Some things are built to fail quite quickly. 

Not cynical. I am certain they are aware that you're far more likely to get a positive review immediately after the purchase. Imagine if people reviewed their spouses immediately after their first consummation versus after 10 years.

bitflipper
I once wrote a review that I subsequently regretted. I should really try to find it and amend it.
 
The review was for a microphone cable I got from Parts Express. It seemed like an excellent deal at the time, but a month later the cable failed. Now I am feeling guilty for possibly having a hand in suckering others into buying that POS. The moral of the story: don't respond to those emails begging you to review things you've bought; wait a few months.

I like to give all of my Amazon reviews the once over every now and then to check that they're still relevant and that I haven't since changed my mind. Seems only fair. I've done some complete turnarounds. One was for a book on C programming which I had gotten very frustrated with and left a 2 star review. A few months later I tackled it again and found that, probably because I went in with a better attitude, the book was actually extremely well written and so I went back, rewrote the review and gave it 5 stars. 
 
Every now and then the author of a book will participate in the comments left under Amazon reviews. It always makes me cringe. A few years ago I wrote a damning review of a programming manual and the author took offense. He stalked me in the comments for a few weeks, made stupid arguments which were easily refuted and generally made a complete ass of himself instead of just taking the criticism on the chin and moving on. 

bitflipper
Not cynical. I am certain they are aware that you're far more likely to get a positive review immediately after the purchase. Imagine if people reviewed their spouses immediately after their first consummation versus after 10 years.

Rain

paulo
Being pestered for weeks after any purchase by amazon is one of the reasons I don't buy more stuff from them. 

We must be very lucky here because my wife and I order on Amazon constantly - usually one or 2 orders a week, sometimes more - for everything from books and DVDs and guitar strings to food and clothing. And same day delivery rocks.
 
I can count on my fingers of one hand the requests for reviews I've received during the last 3 or 4 years, always by 3rd party. I've seen 2 or 3 cases which went beyond one e-mail. And since most sellers are afraid of bad reviews, service is almost always impeccable.
 
Lucky I suppose.

Maybe it's more a UK thing or because I don't buy very much that they think that I need geeing up a bit, but all I can say is that it has exactly the opposite effect on me. I also don't consider that actually sending me the thing I just paid them to send me is something they should be congratulated for or rewarded in some way like they've done me some kind of favour. That was  the deal - I paid for it so you send it.

bitflipper
Not cynical. I am certain they are aware that you're far more likely to get a positive review immediately after the purchase. Imagine if people reviewed their spouses immediately after their first consummation versus after 10 years.

DANE-GER-US!! If my wife even thought I was consorting with "Spouse Reviewers"! Wooo! (shakes from the spine)
I'm going to go watch cat videos on YouTube for a while in case she's feeling a disturbance in the Force.

It's not the reviews, it's the returns. She keeps coming back.

I thought those spouses were so good, I paid for three of them!
:)

Man, come clear, it was a 2 + 1 deal.
At least they let you keep the hatstand.