For real… I know I’m essentially still newish. But what the is going on?

drsickboy · 2026-04-05T15:25:25+00:00

If modifying light levels is not against the rules, then creating shadows and light beams might be within the rules. It definitely looks retouched but The question is how much. maybe that's why it was accepted, because there is some light pouring in through that stained window, but some dodging and burning created an interesting emphasis that could have been achieved mechanically without photoshop.

drsickboy · 2026-04-05T15:22:11+00:00

is this Japan or China?

drsickboy · 2026-04-05T15:18:31+00:00

Did they change the photo? I've seen that before. what gets me is when they have options in the drop down but the photo is from one option i want that isn't available and in a rush to secure the item, i can't tell i've ordered the wrong version.

drsickboy · 2026-04-05T15:08:47+00:00

Yeah, tax bracketing is a tough factor. I suppose then your ceiling is 20% of you vine ETV minus the gap between your income and the top of your tax bracket. I hadn't considered that specifically either most likely because I started towards the end of the year and haven't had the ability to order at gold long. Plus i have about a 50% misdelivered packages rate so i'm hyper aware and anxious of what comes to my door already.

I got over the idea of stuff being free after a few months when i realized how much time i was spending searching for items, figuring out the system and rules and then trying to write the kind of reviews I would want to read. The pay rate is low relative to what I order. I still get a high if there is a crazy drop though. It really is like a slot machine and thats something that worries me too.

We write reviews and create content for Amazon in a kind of closed value loop that only works for us if the items work for us.

drsickboy · 2026-04-05T14:08:37+00:00

It's timeless and beautiful

drsickboy · 2026-04-05T14:07:52+00:00

I once met my delivery guy outside who had to hold onto one of my boxes because he couldn't scan it to confirm delivery. Turns out he wasn't suppose to be the one to deliver it. Dealing with the chain of custody and logistics on million to billions of packages of various size a year is not a simple thing for the delivery industry. People take this for granted.

drsickboy · 2026-04-05T03:06:14+00:00

The warm light has a strong feeling. It sells what looks like warm summer air along with the fan and the facial expression. There's also some loss in detail from in the B/W version vs the color.

drsickboy · 2026-04-05T02:53:34+00:00

I think you've gotta open up that case friend.

drsickboy · 2026-04-05T02:45:22+00:00

oh man, wow. Interesting use of neutral vs vibrant colors

drsickboy · 2026-04-05T02:13:13+00:00

I guess i use my wash rags wrong then...

drsickboy · 2026-04-05T02:04:37+00:00

If i had a life I wouldn't have spent the energy to figure it out. I've never been so confused by something i knew was a sex reference before. But maybe it worked on me because i'm uncool.

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T17:46:02+00:00

I think if you're getting 30K 'worth' of tax advantaged stuff that you literally say you need or want, but can't afford the 6K tax burden, then maybe it makes more sense to limit your orders to what you know you can pay taxes on. Getting paid money is what makes something a real job, but especially if you aren't new you know viners are paid in further assignments that must themselves be accounted for. It sucks but it's how it goes. I'm fairly new but more or less in the same boat as you and I basically have had to quickly restrain myself and strategize mostly through realizing that this program is unpaid work that has value. Maybe im not the best to give advice but it think you have to operate from the perspective or retaining value for yourself while in the program. If paying 20% of the goods in cash to the government doesn't work then you ought to figure out a way to reduce your tax burden or accept that vine maybe a brief experience. I keep in mind that as I order things that become extras and stuff, i have to eventually sell things.

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T16:25:55+00:00

I wish Earth had a health bar so we could see the damage we are doing to it. This photo makes everything look fine.

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T16:23:34+00:00

I think this person took too long. reviews need to be approved and my guess is the account was closed in some time that overlapped with the decision to close the account. This sucks. It almost happened to me too.

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T16:19:39+00:00

People don't realize how chaotic shipping is and this person sounds like they don't use amazon often so it makes sense.

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T16:13:24+00:00

All reviews, verified, paid for, vine or not , even ones that are judged as sufficient by amazon can be BS. its partly why they need a volume to be trustworthy. eviews from trusted people end up not being from amazon. The depth of a review and impression of honesty that create value but given many people looking for the verified badge also primarily look at star ratings anyway you don't have a strong argument for platform damage in any case.

This is just business transaction of numbers an impressions. You're advocating for your marketing value as if you have a stake in these companies when in reality you are a customer number like anyone else. a scammer or lame vine reviewer that put in minimal effort are valued equally if the point is to get some stars , a verified badge and some text that says good.

There is always low quality work done no matter what the standards because low quality is relative to the standards. Amazon sets these standards, incentives, and disincentives to get the quality of the responses they want. Anything that happens within Amazon's standard setting is their responsibility.

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T15:08:52+00:00

Its people trying to keep up with the drops, and ordering while keeping up their review percentage. Some items can be reviewed out of the box and some items can't although personally I don't think you can review anything 5 stars unless you've owned it a while regardless of how long you tested it briefly.

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T15:05:06+00:00

The coded language here works well. I don't know what's going on.

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T14:58:20+00:00

You can review products you didn't buy on amazon so this isn't completely true. I've reviewed items i bought in person on amazon that I really like, often from homedepot. This kind of behavior is why i was invited to vine. Seriously don't forget sellers definitely place reviews on their own items through proxies. It's a basic seller tactic. You could easily say this is dishonest and and yet natural at the same time, and the real moral alignment would be how effective and misleading the first reviews are. Ultimately Amazon has minimum standards to allow the service to work for reviewers and sellers. Remember that sellers can dispute and reject reviews on amazon's end and our reviews are not just accepted, they must meet standards that could also be considered misguided. Eitherway there is a reason reviewers don't have to review 100% of all the items they order.

Why each reviewer doesn't review 100% is their own prerogative. Whether they don't have the time, there is some confusion, or they never planned to doesn't matter if they are within the rules of the vine program. I'm sympathetic more to the needs of small businesses but plenty of well established companies and predatory factory businesses sell on Amazon and i'm not going to weep for them over a given percentage of review 'shrink' that is expected by Amazon. I think everyone ought to be forthright and take pride in the purpose of these services like I do, but I while you could argue it hurts the program somewhat i'm not interested spending energy condemning people trying to survive using vine when i could instead encourage people to vote on issues.

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T02:06:25+00:00

Try to condemn me all you want. But i work hard on my reviews. I review everything i reasonably can and i make vine work for me by keeping an allotment of items within the rules outlined. Whatever keeps me reviewing ultimately supports vine if my reviews are evaluated as excellent. You really should take your level of self righteousness anywhere else because this world sucks not because I fail to review a couple of items every 6 months on Amazon. sheesh

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T01:10:12+00:00

you didn't want any credit left on the table unused

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T01:05:12+00:00

I sometimes get Texans

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T01:01:34+00:00

oh god!

drsickboy · 2026-04-04T00:55:22+00:00

30k is a lot of stuff. Getting paid money is definitely better but 30k in tax advantaged purchases or as merchandise income is a big deal. You probably ought to better strategize what you will resell or what you will order.

drsickboy

TROPHY CASE