Distrust for online Reviews

I do not recommend shopping on Amazon.com, but I admit it can be an interesting website to gather information. Or I thought it used to be. Lots of reviews there, more than any other site I’ve seen. A friend and I once discussed the minimum number of reviews one should look for, for the data to be (hopefully) a rounded representation. But anymore, it appears reviews can be bought or censored, and that’s kind of sad. While looking for a desk light, I spent hours looking for features I wanted, and reviews for various brands and models. Even if I was only looking to spend $50, I didn’t want to have to try out 3 different ones to get the right one (or one that lasts) and therefore spend more like $150. Maybe I overthink things, but I also don’t want to throw money away by buying crap. I found reviews that were “updated” saying they never got their gift card for submitting a 5-star review. Hmm, sounds like that’s a good way to get false testimonials that won’t all be written in the same voice (less obviously fake). I attempted to submit a review on Amazon for the Arteza pens, and found they would not post it, but offered me a refund instead. While that’s more appropriate, it’s still sad if they’re attempting to buy my silence. Their note read “We hope that you give us another chance. If you would like a full refund: please reply 'Full refund'.” What, they want me to buy their pens again and hope for a better batch? No way. You want me to stop submitting unfavorable reviews simply stating the couple of pens that worked were gloppy? Or you just don’t want me to be miffed for refusing to post my review? It’s not like was an over-done angry post about a waste of money and horrible product. I noted that for coloring, the gloops may not be as noticeable as with writing. I said how much use I got out of the one pen that did work. I didn’t frame it as good or bad. I have to wonder how many others they have censored or trying to buy off to with-hold less favorable reviews. I know it’s stupid to “trust the internet” but I guess I’m a dope, not realizing sooner, that with all the opportunity for sharing information and knowledge, well, it’s all probably just loads of crap (or more so than I’d realized).

Darkness Drags on

I did the math, and can hardly believe it’s only been 12 weeks since I moved to my sun-less corner of the work world. It seems like it’s been dragging on forever. I made a doctor’s appointment to ask what the heck to do next. I’ve gained 20 pounds due in part to lack of energy and feeling generally crappy. I’ve tried exercising both walking and strength-training as much as I can stand (which isn’t much) and have no discernable difference even though they say oh, you need to exercise more, because that gives you energy. I have 3 LED lamps, one on each side, and one in the back corner, 40 watt equivalent or more. I don’t know the exact measurements of my desk, but it’s less than 6 feet wide for sure. All the light does is strain my eyes and give me headaches. The side lamps have 10 brightness settings, so I can turn them up and down gradually. I’ve tried turning them up and down, or leaving at one setting, and both ways suck. It kind of feels like it comes down to whether or not I deserve to not be miserable. The indirect feedback I’m getting is that no, I’m not worthy of that. What's wrong with this picture.

Pen Review: Arteza Glitter Gel Pens, 14 colors, 1.0 mm

Ahem. I think this is a sign I need to stop trying out different pen brands and simply stick with the ones that were the best. The plastic pen barrel has a cheap feeling like if you drop it from any height, it might shatter. Hopefully they would not, but they feel notably cheap in construction. 5 lines in, the green stopped working. Ka-poot. Nothing. Purchase was less than 1 month old. Good grief. I don’t have time for this. Did I mention the other brand (Color Technik) pack of 80, where you have to try several pens before achieving one that works more than a couple of lines? I guess this has made me impatient. My Arteza set “only” had 14 pen colors, of which I only really want to write with 8, and of those, the first I pick stops working that quickly. Is it so unusual to want almost new pens to work? Again, I’m seriously re-thinking how much I appreciate some of these others (some of which I have not reviewed yet).

So without beating the green pen to death, I moved on to the red. Guess what happened? 6 lines in, it died. I attempted to resuscitate. It wrote 2 more lines. This is a joke. Since I got them from Amazon, I know from experience if I return them, they will not refund my money (it usually gets lost somewhere, or they claim they credited my account, which they did not, but the refuse to admit they are capable of any type of error. The dark blue pen worked for two pages (6x9) and used about a third of the pen. The ink gloops here and there, but was nicely bright and sparkly.

Pink pen. Guess what? 5 1/2 lines in, dead. Black made it a whole 10 lines, then dead.

These were by far the worst pens I’ve tried so far. With the price about a dollar a pen, it would be nice if they at least worked for the most part. Since they were from Amazon.com, I know I can’t return them for a refund or exchange. Sure, they say you can, but in my experience, Amazon pretends to refund my money and I never get it, so I’ve stopped trying. I don’t think they’re known for their customer service. That’s what you get for cheaper prices.