Second Hand Smoke - Getting Your Reviews on Tom's Hardware Guide

It's been just over a month since we launched Tom's PriceGrabbing Guide, and now it's time to launch some new features aimed squarely at getting your opinions heard among vendors and merchants. By the way, the response to Tom's PriceGrabbing Guide has been overwhelming with an increase in the number of users that is four fold over what we experienced when we had a partnership with CNet Shopper.

Also, as is your wont, you've been pretty good at giving us your opinions and feedback. There's still more for us to do, but we're making good progress.

I've also got some information at the end on Tom's Hard News (THN) email blasts, which we have recently started to do on a regular weekly basis. So, check it out, if you are not a subscriber.

Finally, we are looking for new testers in the Santa Barbara County area, or within a 100 mile radius, not including the Pacific Ocean. You really need to have a connection to the Power Grid. I'll have more on that at the end of the article.

You Get To Call It As You See It

Well, when we first Unplugged CNet we did say that we wanted to create a better experience for Tom's Hardware Guide (THG) readers. Now, we think we have something that is going to really make a difference - you can add your THG reviews of products on our PriceGrabbing pages.

Sites like Amazon.com offer similar functionality, sure, but this is really the first time that our discerning readers can be clearly identified and their opinions can be called out from other opinions, and its very focused on hardware. I think it will have benefit for the greater computer buying public to see what THG readers feel about certain products and merchants. After all, you guys are supposed to be the enthusiasts, the experts, and real afficianados of hardware.

While PriceGrabber, which provides the engine for our comparison shopping pages, has been working on integrating user reviews of merchants and products for all its services, we felt that THG readers had something unique to offer, and should be recognized for their offerings.

We've wrestled with the notion of putting more of your input on the site, and trying to figure out where it would have the most benefit. It seems pretty clear that the value is in bringing your practical and empirical knowledge of products into plain view. We have to thank the folks at PriceGrabber for doing this. The process has commercial value to the company, and they really did it because, the PriceGrabber team is also full of enthusiasts and THG readers, too.