Hello, We’re Red Panda Reviews
We write reviews, honest reviews, in ordinary language, about the stuff we use and like (or dislike) or otherwise have something to say about.
This is an experiment. I often write reviews for products I buy, or places I go, to share my experience in the hopes that the information will be useful to somebody else. A good review provides information about the product/service/shop/etc, as well as the motivations and expectations of the user, so the reader can make their own informed decision about that thing. Maybe something was bad for me, but would be good for somebody else in a different situation or with different tastes.
That said, I tend to speak frankly and explicitly, and I don’t intend to stilt my language for these reviews, you may get offended if I trash-talk something you like. Maybe I’m wrong about something, or maybe I don’t understand some aspect of it, or maybe I just have different tastes and/or expectations than you. That’s what the comments are for, but stay civil and informative with reasoned arguments and/or additional facts or it will (obviously) get deleted.
There are lots of review sites that puke out a lot of raw data about products (esp the specs of computers and cell phones) without providing proper context. I’ve read a lot of reviews of things where it’s clear the user doesn’t have much personal experience, or even personal interest, in the product. Some people are just cranking out reviews with a quantity over quality mindset to appeal to the largest possible audience to rake in that affiliate-link green. We don’t do that here. We are going to review the things that we use and do ourselves. These aren’t “professional” reviews, but they will be in-depth and detailed and personal.
Of course, we also hope to bring in the big bucks with our reviews and make enough money to quit our day jobs. We don’t expect that will ever happen though. We’ll be happy enough if we can raise enough money to donate significantly to our chosen conservation charity: The Red Panda Network. This organization works hard to preserve the habitats where red pandas (and snow leopards, and all kinds of other great animals) live and provide assistance and education to locals to help protect this endangered species.
You may have noticed that the above text sometimes says “I” and sometimes says “we”. That’s because there are two of us, a couple, working on these reviews. Some things apply to both of us, and some things only apply to one or the other. We can be differentiated as “Lady Panda” and “Man Panda” (with an occasional “Boss Panda” listing by our joint admin account). We provide reviews in English, Japanese, and Korean, with possible spelling and grammar mistakes in all three.
Although I’ve written a lot of reviews, and I’ve made quite a few websites (a long time ago), this is our first time doing anything like this, so we’ll probably make some mistakes along the way. Please be kind and understanding, and tell us if we mess something up. To err is human, and red pandas are people too … or something like that.
ENJOY!