>But online, that firewall came down, and it got worse. They had funnels to sell you the products they reviewed and they had cookies and they got money for sales.
I don't really care if they have affiliate links to sell products, they include links for multiple sellers and I see no sign that they are steering people to the most expensive product since most times their top rated product is not the most expensive one.
> They would buy cars themselves, then review them instead of getting a "perfect" car loaned and managed by the company that created it.
That's a very expensive way to do reviews, and apparently digital subscriptions don't pay all the bills and affiliate links help close the gap.
> They clearly are in bed with advertisers - there is no firewall, they don't support themselves financially.
Why do you say that? They have no advertising (unless you call the affiliate purchase links "advertising", but their relationship with Amazon isn't going to make them recommend Ford over Chevy.
I don't really care if they have affiliate links to sell products, they include links for multiple sellers and I see no sign that they are steering people to the most expensive product since most times their top rated product is not the most expensive one.
> They would buy cars themselves, then review them instead of getting a "perfect" car loaned and managed by the company that created it.
That's a very expensive way to do reviews, and apparently digital subscriptions don't pay all the bills and affiliate links help close the gap.
> They clearly are in bed with advertisers - there is no firewall, they don't support themselves financially.
Why do you say that? They have no advertising (unless you call the affiliate purchase links "advertising", but their relationship with Amazon isn't going to make them recommend Ford over Chevy.