Whatever happened to Denver Patient's Group? I haven't seen them around lately. Wonder if they're still in business?
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Whatever happened to Denver Patient's Group? I haven't seen them around lately. Wonder if they're still in business?
I reviewed their product about a month ago and haven't heard anything since. Interesting...Quote:
Originally Posted by lampost
I might just call up and ask them if they have any blueberry mold in stock. :D Their going to go out of business pulling shit like that. Way to go Bryan, showing everyone not all Dispensaries are bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by MMJinColorado
Considering his internet rampages im not surprised that they arent around as much...Quote:
Originally Posted by lampost
Looking forward to meeting ya. -Bryan:jointsmile:Quote:
Originally Posted by MMJinColorado
What is up Mr. Strainman? Nice thread! So this is where you spend a lot of your time!
GP
Been going to the Breckinridge Loft lately. They have been having a growers showcase. Every week for 6 weeks featuring a different growers products, and the patients can vote. This weeks hash selection is amazing. Havent seen this many different kinds of really good hash anywhere else. The chemdawg and the blueberry/juicy fruit are both full melt bubble goodness. Best hash hands down ive had from a dispensary yet. The blueberry juicy fruit is very blonde and almost evaporates when smoked. The chemdawg is a little darker but bubbles like crazy and taste amazing. At first a was weary of this place because i thought their prices were high, but they lowered them a little, and the growers showcase if fun.
I didn't want to hijack Releaf's Jack Flash thread any further, and this is mostly general thoughts about reviewing, so I figured I'd throw it in here... Sorry in advance for the rambling and personal introspection, the other thread just got me thinking about a lot of things.
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Yeah it's hard to know how to handle things as a reviewer. Most of the places I've reviewed know I'm a reviewer (at least by the 2nd visit), but I've bought all my own medicine so far. It's getting to be a struggle to keep the content coming while having to pay close to $20/gram for samples at some places. I can't afford to buy 8ths to sample, so it's inflated gram prices most of the time for variety's sake. Then sometimes I end up with moldy meds that I can't smoke and things like that, and it wrecks my budget even further.
My goal as a reviewer is nothing more than to get the maximum amount of information out to the MMJ community as possible. My goal is to do daily reviews that are as detailed as the ones I've been doing, including ~25+ photos of each sample, all of which get posted in our public PhotoBucket for people to view (even if I don't review the strain on the site). However, I'm finding out that standard is next to impossible without getting either free samples or some sort of other compensation for the 3-4 hours daily I put into the site as well as all the expenses that come with it, the worst of which is the price of samples.
However, as Travis (I believe) said, a quality review is pretty much the best publicity that a dispensary can get, so sites like mine are giving them quite a bit of free advertising. And it's quality advertising, WAY better than a simple banner or a directory site... we're providing them with a service as well as the readers. I'm fine with giving free publicity, as I want to support the places that I believe are in it for the right reasons and have treated me well, but it's a two-way street and you have to draw the line somewhere. I have been struggling with the idea of a paid aspect to my site as well, but I don't want to do dispensary ads (or even worse, super-annoying and low revenue Google ads) for the sake of the site's readability... What choice is there? You gotta be a rich guy to be a reviewer I guess... we're sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place here. I have a mortgage to pay and a full time job, but this is a passion of mine and I think it's providing a quality service to the MMJ community, which I care about deeply. Having to choose between the two doesn't seem necessary, but worries about integrity are obviously founded... it's difficult.
After seeing the shitfest in the other thread regarding free samples or paid aspects to review sites, I'm obviously worried about going that route for integrity's sake (both perceived and possibly real). I am however interested in more feedback on this -- is some bias acceptable in the name of getting as much information out as possible? Does me (or any other reviewer) taking money or samples from a dispensary make anything I say automatically suspect even if there are no discernible shifts in the writing style or grades from the pre-money era (I don't do overalls, so I don't know what you could really even pick up on)? What other options are there for sites who aren't sitting on piles of money to continue to put out quality content and even improve/expand their coverage?
Now let's get meta...
I think bias is unavoidable unless review sites have a panel of testers who do not know what the strain is, where it came from, etc... They would all have to administer it in the exact same way and do the same things while they're testing to account for differences in method... Further, if people are interested in medical type information (which both my site and KR provide in a casual "we're not doctors, please don't sue us" kind of way), there is really no way to avoid a bias... I suffer from frequent back spasms and tension primarily, so that's my normal gauge for pain relief... if I had fibromyalgia or constant nausea, I would give perspective on that. There's just no way around subjectivity/bias... so bottom line becomes -- does the community want review sites with lots of content or not?
I'd love to have a staff of reviewers to make the testing regimen more stringent (there's always room for improvement), but to suggest that there's a way to be unbiased as a reviewer of anything is pretty ridiculous in my eyes, paid or not. Everyone has their preferences and proclivities, until we invent weed-reviewing robots with the palate of Farmer Steve and the ability to feel varieties of pain and other maladies, I don't know what else we can really do.
An aside, I know that KindReviews generally focuses on the higher-end places with established reputations, but I'm definitely more willing to subject myself to the 'riff-raff' for the sake of the community. I think it's important to get the word out when you see some nasty stuff on meds and they don't handle it well after you call them on it... that's a huge black mark against an establishment, and it deserves to be known. There are so many places popping up still that have next to no online presence where patients can do research on them. And let's not forget that not all of them are shady or low-quality, who knows how many might be diamonds in the rough that more people should know about?
I also want to review more 'lower-shelf' meds for patients who can't always afford top shelf -- that's an aspect that I think has been ignored to some extent with the other review sites. Not everyone can go shell out $50 or so for an 8th, and I think it's important to find great deals for patients as well as cheapo garbage to stay away from. I use my Twitter for the former quite a bit, communicating deals I run across (mainly on CraigsList or via dispensary newsletters) so people can save some cash. Places like Chronic Wellness don't always have mind-blowing meds, but they get great strains now and then and normally offer $30 8ths that are generally at least B grade if not better. I can find deals all day, but if I can't go try them for myself because I'm spending so much on samples, what good is it?
Mo content, mo problems... or something like that.
I just posted this in the original thread, but moved it over here:
>>>Why don't you make a website that connects independent caregivers with patients!? That's what we desperately need and if that took off it could generate ad revenue for sure. Or you could have a nominal fee for caregivers to advertise... or a private board (Vbulletin) that has a small membership fee? Bulletin boards like this seem to be popular. If you could reproduce the CO regional section of cannabis.com but allow free talk of patient-patient, caregiver-patient sales and offers then you'd have a great site!
Maybe you could combine this website with the review site somehow? Or rely on revenue from the less dispensary-focused site which would allow you to make KR ad-free.
A good caregiver-patient website is definitely needed. The only one that I'm aware of now is Craigslist which is lacking in features and full of law enforcement and scammers... there's no feedback on these people.
I agree that you have to introduce anonymity into your bud procurement and pay for samples. This is the only way, as has been pointed out with the restaurant industry.<<<
I'm biased myself because I'd rather see dispensary reviews than "strain" reviews. One of my pet peeves is when someone tries to get too specific with a strains medical effects!! It seems misleading to me...
Quote:
Originally Posted by MMJinColorado
Why not break some ground and take a new direction away from dispensary sponsored reviews? Create a members-only site that you have to pay 5 or 10 a month to be a member of.... that way you can cover your costs and put some money in your pocket while not having to worry about boosting any sponsors egos. I think ALOT of patients would be more than willing to spend 5 or 10 dollars for this service...