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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 421341" data-attributes="member: 2013">In a word, reprehensible.I was stunned to see this kind of letter from a company - essentially implying that their understanding of the review process is that "companies that give out freebies should get better reviews than companies that don't because freebies should never get bad reviews."I am speechless.  Does it not occur to these folks that there is a difference between a REVIEW and an ADVERTISEMENT?  The moment a reader starts to feel that a "good review" is the result of bias on the part of the reviewer and not on the merit of the product, the impact of that review is lost.  That doesn't mean that if a reviewer says, "I may be biased on this because I like alternative magic systems" that the review becomes worthless, because that is an admission of the personal preferences of the reviewer - if my personal preferences are the same (or different), I know to pay particular attention (or give less weight to) that portion of the review.However, the instant I think that "this guy is giving the product a good review because he got it for free" I have to throw everything said about the product completely out the window (unless it's a freebie for everyone).In my mind, there is an obligation that exists when a reviewer accepts a free copy of a work from a publisher.  That obligation is to give a review of the product.  In other words, "feedback" is the price the reviewer is expected to pay.  Whether that feedback is positive or negative is of course the realm of the reviewer.I haven't bought anything from Avalanche yet (their T&A covers left me nonplussed and I found the work within even less appealing to me - though admittedly I am not a historical buff and therefore probably not in the target audience).  Looks like I don't need to plan to either - any company that confuses REVIEWS for ADVERTISING apparently does not understand that the credibility of the reviewer is what makes reviews much more persuasive than advertising and if they attempt to undermine the credibility of the reviewer, any positive reviews they may receive are nothing more than wasted type and actually wind up having a NEGATIVE effect.  At least with me.--The Sigil</blockquote>

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