[Chad Arnow]

We get a lot of questions about our Hands-on Reviews. People often want to know more about them and how we produce them as well as what differences there may or may not be between our reviews and others on the 'net.

With that in mind, we've put together: Hands-on Reviews: Frequently Asked Questions.

Please check it out. We hope it answers some questions for you. If you ever have other questions not covered by this FAQ, please feel free to ask.

This FAQ is also linked on our Reviews page for handy reference.

Enjoy!

[Nathan Robinson]

Thanks for posting about this addition to the site, Chad.

I think it's important to note to our members how we go about our review process and what makes this part of our site different than the other reviews you see scattered on the 'net. We have a very unique difference here with our reviews even compared with product reviews that are completely outside the whole arms and armour market.

One of the biggest challenges of having a site that hosts as many product reviews as this one is getting the products in our hands. This is really an understatement, frankly, as it's quite literally been at the expense of a tremendous amount of effort and money. Most product review publications or product reviewers (not necessarily in our niche) receive products to review from manufacturers and are allowed to keep these products. This essentially creates a situation where the reviews are sponsored by the manufacturer. Of course this is appealing from the point of view of getting free stuff, but with it being a tremendous conflict of interest, we've avoided it. Free stuff sure would make it easier to bribe new authors to do the work, too, but then that wouldn't really produce a quality product so we avoid that, too. That's too bad for us, but great for the site. I guess it works out.

Another challenge has been our goal of making the reviews be a good read even to those people who aren't necessarily interested in ever purchasing the product being reviewed. This is important to us. We want these things to be a good read to anyone reading it. For the most part, I think we've done a pretty good job at that.

So anyway, the reason why I'm adding to this topic is this:

The next time any of you guys read a review of ours, I'd like to ask that you really think about all the hard work that's gone into it. I fully realize that from the outside looking in, it just looks like a one page article with some photos. Big deal, right? Well, there's a whole process involved in getting that thing online and, perhaps more importantly, a lot of consideration as to what that article is, why it's written the way it is, and what it's trying to articulate.

We really do hope you enjoy and get value from our hands-on reviewing efforts. It's weird looking back and seeing that we've completed and published literally hundreds of them. Wow. Where has the time gone?

[Jean Thibodeau]

Yeah, makers sending free stuff would be a problem staying honest even if one tried really really hard to be honest, but maybe if the product was sent back or paid in full if kept would make getting maker's work to review O.K.

Or, the product could become a prize for contests or donation drives ???

There could be other reasons why this wouldn't be practical that I haven't thought of ?

[Nathan Robinson]

[Gavin Kisebach]

Ethically speaking I'm almost certain that you could send free sample swords to me rather than back to the company. That would free you of the heavy burden of maintaining objectivity; something that I would humbly bear for you. This may sound like fuzzy logic but I assure you it's a brilliant plan.

[Nathan Robinson]

[Chad Arnow]

This topic hasn't necessarily generated a ton of discussion, but it appears to have been read pretty widely. I'll take that as a hint that people were interested in the FAQ.

While it may not be as riveting as a review or feature article, it's still an important addition to this site and I'm glad people are taking the time to check it out. If you haven't checked it out, please take a moment to do so.

Happy holidays, everyone.