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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LordEntrails" data-source="post: 8417515" data-attributes="member: 6804070">No, it really isn't a big allegation, nor should it be shocking one.And no, it's also not claiming any sort of fraud or other term you wish to use with such severity.And, as pointed out, its not about these "big sites" (which they might be big in the RPG world, but are tiny from a larger world view) getting free books/products, but about them getting advanced copies so that they can be one of the first sites to post reviews and therefore attract the most amount of clicks and viewers. And every click or viewer is worth cold hard cash to these sites.So, in short, readers should be aware of what the actual workings are behind things they read and use. (i.e. critical thinking), and in the case of reviews of WotC products, what we know to be the case(s) is;1) "big site" gets a released copy of a product from WotC2) Therefore they can get a review article publicly posted as soon the book is publicly available.3) Therefore buyers who are considering purchasing the book are more likely to visit said "big site" to research if they should buy the product.4) "big site" makes money for each person who visits their webpage, and they make more money when those visitors click on an advertisement on that page (i.e. this is how digital advertising works)Therefore, it is intelligent and critical for people who read these reviews to understand that their are biases and influences on what the reviews say. Do the reviewers consciously or unconsciously influence their reviews to be positive? We don't know, but it is intelligent to consider the possibility. And not to leave out the other biases that can impact these reviewers, you also have the editors/owners/operators, who are closer to the advertising money, in which articles and writers they chose to publish. Because they are going to have to worry about paying the bills of hosting the site, paying salaries, etc. Are they going to influence their published content based upon how much money it draws in? (Hopefully they will, since its a key part of their job.)</blockquote>

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