Does anyone actually pay for 'Which?'
Discussion
Randomly googled a pretty mundane TV model to use in the spare room and one of the first results was a 'Which?' review. Clicked the link to find that I can't read the review unless I pay. Fair enough, has been the case for as long as I can remember. Out of interest I had a look at what it costs to actually sign up and well, here it is:
https://www.which.co.uk/static/signup/subscribe-to...
Can't help but wonder, who actually pays for this? Found all I needed to know about the TV in the end via Reddit, Youtube etc so I wonder what Which actually offers you other than one dude, or a small group of dudes' opinions.
Also, who is paying the extra £10 a year for the Which digital magazine. I can't imagine the number of readers is over 5000. Or am I missing something?
Just seems like something from a bygone internet era where information was much harder to come by and the web as a whole was a small fraction of the size it is now. Especially with the likes of ChatGPT being able to pull info and links for you with better relevance than Google, IME.
https://www.which.co.uk/static/signup/subscribe-to...
Can't help but wonder, who actually pays for this? Found all I needed to know about the TV in the end via Reddit, Youtube etc so I wonder what Which actually offers you other than one dude, or a small group of dudes' opinions.
Also, who is paying the extra £10 a year for the Which digital magazine. I can't imagine the number of readers is over 5000. Or am I missing something?
Just seems like something from a bygone internet era where information was much harder to come by and the web as a whole was a small fraction of the size it is now. Especially with the likes of ChatGPT being able to pull info and links for you with better relevance than Google, IME.
It's like much of the old world that's been killed by the internet, exchange and mart who remembers that? Autojumbles, waiting for a club magazine to come out and comb the classifieds, hell just printed media. All basically dead. Time was a housewife would have a recipe book, usually a gift on setting up their first home together, she would keep it her whole life till a relative clears the house on her death/going in to a home, a lifetime of recipes added in to the back page, scribbles on pages of favourites with adjustments to taste, loose pages added in and free recipe cards from the supermarket.
Now people get gifted recipe books, try one recipe and then fire the book to the local charity shop, recipe books natural habitat is the 2 for £5 section of the local bargain junk shop. Recipes are found on the phone now, made then forgotten straight away.
Which is a casualty of this changing world, how they still exist god knows, it must be a generational customer and as soon as they die out so will the company, these days we just look on the internet for a few minutes, maybe watch a YouTube video or 2 then go and buy it. Let's face it, most things we buy get bought then quickly end up forgotten about or break quickly anyway, it's only the day to day stuff that matters, all the fad stuff has a lifespan vastly longer than our attention spans.
Now people get gifted recipe books, try one recipe and then fire the book to the local charity shop, recipe books natural habitat is the 2 for £5 section of the local bargain junk shop. Recipes are found on the phone now, made then forgotten straight away.
Which is a casualty of this changing world, how they still exist god knows, it must be a generational customer and as soon as they die out so will the company, these days we just look on the internet for a few minutes, maybe watch a YouTube video or 2 then go and buy it. Let's face it, most things we buy get bought then quickly end up forgotten about or break quickly anyway, it's only the day to day stuff that matters, all the fad stuff has a lifespan vastly longer than our attention spans.
t reviews with the sole aim of pushing you to buy the item from whoever is funding the ads.adsk said:
Most libraries have subscriptions to Which? Normally if I buy white goods, I'll head down to the local library to have a read there.
No need to head down to any library.I have an app called Borrow Box on my phone and iPad which is linked to my free local council library account, and I can read any magazine or newspaper instantly on my iPad, for free.
My local library has online copies of pretty much every magazine you can think of and every UK and worldwide newspaper you can think of. Updated daily as each new paper or magazine is released.
Most people have no idea about this facility.
It's all a bit of a masquerade.
A couple of years ago, one of the products that we manufacture was tested by them and came out 'best' in its sector - but you then have to pay Which to actually have the tag/listing after the result. The product sells very well under it's own/our steam so we didn't bother as it didn't feel worth the outlay.
This might be common knowledge to everyone but I was a bit surprised that this was how it worked. Lucky for everyone that I don't work in Sales & Marketing I suppose.
A couple of years ago, one of the products that we manufacture was tested by them and came out 'best' in its sector - but you then have to pay Which to actually have the tag/listing after the result. The product sells very well under it's own/our steam so we didn't bother as it didn't feel worth the outlay.
This might be common knowledge to everyone but I was a bit surprised that this was how it worked. Lucky for everyone that I don't work in Sales & Marketing I suppose.
wildoliver said:
It's like much of the old world that's been killed by the internet, exchange and mart who remembers that? Autojumbles, waiting for a club magazine to come out and comb the classifieds, hell just printed media. All basically dead. Time was a housewife would have a recipe book, usually a gift on setting up their first home together, she would keep it her whole life till a relative clears the house on her death/going in to a home, a lifetime of recipes added in to the back page, scribbles on pages of favourites with adjustments to taste, loose pages added in and free recipe cards from the supermarket.
Now people get gifted recipe books, try one recipe and then fire the book to the local charity shop, recipe books natural habitat is the 2 for £5 section of the local bargain junk shop. Recipes are found on the phone now, made then forgotten straight away.
Which is a casualty of this changing world, how they still exist god knows, it must be a generational customer and as soon as they die out so will the company, these days we just look on the internet for a few minutes, maybe watch a YouTube video or 2 then go and buy it. Let's face it, most things we buy get bought then quickly end up forgotten about or break quickly anyway, it's only the day to day stuff that matters, all the fad stuff has a lifespan vastly longer than our attention spans.
Can you please tell my wife who continues to buy recipe books, no matter how many times I tell her the internet does a much better job, google/AI what you have in the fridge and voila! They take up an entire cupboard and are never opened, but as soon as the latest Jamie Oliver/Joe Wicks or whatever is out and she's got another! Drives me nuts.Now people get gifted recipe books, try one recipe and then fire the book to the local charity shop, recipe books natural habitat is the 2 for £5 section of the local bargain junk shop. Recipes are found on the phone now, made then forgotten straight away.
Which is a casualty of this changing world, how they still exist god knows, it must be a generational customer and as soon as they die out so will the company, these days we just look on the internet for a few minutes, maybe watch a YouTube video or 2 then go and buy it. Let's face it, most things we buy get bought then quickly end up forgotten about or break quickly anyway, it's only the day to day stuff that matters, all the fad stuff has a lifespan vastly longer than our attention spans.
I'm sure she's even got a doo hickey for keeping the books on while you cook, which is also cluttering a cupboard somewhere.
wildoliver said:
It's like much of the old world that's been killed by the internet, exchange and mart who remembers that? Autojumbles, waiting for a club magazine to come out and comb the classifieds, hell just printed media. All basically dead. Time was a housewife would have a recipe book, usually a gift on setting up their first home together, she would keep it her whole life till a relative clears the house on her death/going in to a home, a lifetime of recipes added in to the back page, scribbles on pages of favourites with adjustments to taste, loose pages added in and free recipe cards from the supermarket.
Now people get gifted recipe books, try one recipe and then fire the book to the local charity shop, recipe books natural habitat is the 2 for £5 section of the local bargain junk shop. Recipes are found on the phone now, made then forgotten straight away.
Which is a casualty of this changing world, how they still exist god knows, it must be a generational customer and as soon as they die out so will the company, these days we just look on the internet for a few minutes, maybe watch a YouTube video or 2 then go and buy it. Let's face it, most things we buy get bought then quickly end up forgotten about or break quickly anyway, it's only the day to day stuff that matters, all the fad stuff has a lifespan vastly longer than our attention spans.
Add to 1st paragraphNow people get gifted recipe books, try one recipe and then fire the book to the local charity shop, recipe books natural habitat is the 2 for £5 section of the local bargain junk shop. Recipes are found on the phone now, made then forgotten straight away.
Which is a casualty of this changing world, how they still exist god knows, it must be a generational customer and as soon as they die out so will the company, these days we just look on the internet for a few minutes, maybe watch a YouTube video or 2 then go and buy it. Let's face it, most things we buy get bought then quickly end up forgotten about or break quickly anyway, it's only the day to day stuff that matters, all the fad stuff has a lifespan vastly longer than our attention spans.
Loot
Electronicpants said:
Can you please tell my wife who continues to buy recipe books, no matter how many times I tell her the internet does a much better job, google/AI what you have in the fridge and voila! They take up an entire cupboard and are never opened, but as soon as the latest Jamie Oliver/Joe Wicks or whatever is out and she's got another! Drives me nuts.
I'm sure she's even got a doo hickey for keeping the books on while you cook, which is also cluttering a cupboard somewhere.
Recipe books are much better than using a phone/tablet/laptop to work from. She's right. I'm sure she's even got a doo hickey for keeping the books on while you cook, which is also cluttering a cupboard somewhere.
MarkJS said:
It's all a bit of a masquerade.
A couple of years ago, one of the products that we manufacture was tested by them and came out 'best' in its sector - but you then have to pay Which to actually have the tag/listing after the result. The product sells very well under it's own/our steam so we didn't bother as it didn't feel worth the outlay.
This might be common knowledge to everyone but I was a bit surprised that this was how it worked. Lucky for everyone that I don't work in Sales & Marketing I suppose.
Much like the insurance industry whose products get analysed by Defaqto but you have to pay them for the right to state your rating and use the "Five star Defaqto rated" logo and branding. Which seems fair enough.A couple of years ago, one of the products that we manufacture was tested by them and came out 'best' in its sector - but you then have to pay Which to actually have the tag/listing after the result. The product sells very well under it's own/our steam so we didn't bother as it didn't feel worth the outlay.
This might be common knowledge to everyone but I was a bit surprised that this was how it worked. Lucky for everyone that I don't work in Sales & Marketing I suppose.
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