<story><title>Wirecutter strike and boycott Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday</title><url>https://twitter.com/wirecutterunion/status/1463175088325505035</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>callmeal</author><text>Wirecutter is a pay-to-play operation. I stopped heeding their recommendations after I discovered that they were aggressively persuing kickbacks and refusing to review products that do not pay. See &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.xdesk.com&amp;#x2F;wirecutter-standing-desk-review-pay-to-play-model&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.xdesk.com&amp;#x2F;wirecutter-standing-desk-review-pay-to...&lt;/a&gt; for example.&lt;p&gt;Also note that wirecutter in their response do not deny this but try to weasel out by claiming that the word &amp;#x27;kickback&amp;#x27; was misleading.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;wirecutter&amp;#x2F;our-response-to-nextdesk&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;wirecutter&amp;#x2F;our-response-to-nextdesk&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  One valid criticism NextDesk raised was our use of the word “kickback” in our business communications, which is a misleading description of the affiliate business model because it implies an illicit transaction. In our company’s early days, we misused the term to describe a straightforward affiliate relationship, but we have since changed how we talk about the affiliate business, which is one we continue to stand behind.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Fission</author><text>I wanted to link to an older comment (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=24714286&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=24714286&lt;/a&gt;) I made on this topic, because I keep on seeing this article. It&amp;#x27;s turned out to be one of my most upvoted comments on HN, to my genuine surprise.&lt;p&gt;Reproduction:&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;I keep on seeing this link pop up. Since no one is replying, I&amp;#x27;d like to point out that I think the Wirecutter is actually in the right here. Another HN member did some investigation and found that Xdesk is stretching things: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=22144078&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=22144078&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;In general, having been able to talk with some of the people there, I&amp;#x27;m convinced that WC was focused first and foremost on truth-seeking and quality at this point in their life (pre-acquisition) — however, the consensus seems to have been that after the NYT acquired them, they started becoming more incentivized to grow revenue, and started to jump the shark.&lt;/i&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Wirecutter strike and boycott Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday</title><url>https://twitter.com/wirecutterunion/status/1463175088325505035</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>callmeal</author><text>Wirecutter is a pay-to-play operation. I stopped heeding their recommendations after I discovered that they were aggressively persuing kickbacks and refusing to review products that do not pay. See &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.xdesk.com&amp;#x2F;wirecutter-standing-desk-review-pay-to-play-model&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.xdesk.com&amp;#x2F;wirecutter-standing-desk-review-pay-to...&lt;/a&gt; for example.&lt;p&gt;Also note that wirecutter in their response do not deny this but try to weasel out by claiming that the word &amp;#x27;kickback&amp;#x27; was misleading.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;wirecutter&amp;#x2F;our-response-to-nextdesk&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;wirecutter&amp;#x2F;our-response-to-nextdesk&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  One valid criticism NextDesk raised was our use of the word “kickback” in our business communications, which is a misleading description of the affiliate business model because it implies an illicit transaction. In our company’s early days, we misused the term to describe a straightforward affiliate relationship, but we have since changed how we talk about the affiliate business, which is one we continue to stand behind.&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>filmgirlcw</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s worth noting that this whole thing is from 2013&amp;#x2F;2014. Since then, Wirecutter has been sold to the New York Times and has completely different management. I don&amp;#x27;t personally think Brian Lam did what Nextdesk accused him of (disclosure: I&amp;#x27;ve met Lam socially), but I also understand why it seems improper to have that kind of outreach.&lt;p&gt;Based on my personal knowledge of many people who have worked at Wirecutter past and present, I don&amp;#x27;t believe they are a pay to play operation at all.&lt;p&gt;Regardless, that has no bearing on whether or not their employees are owed a fair labor contract or not.</text></comment>