CNET no longer recommends Wyze products 🤣

Watercooler
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That will be useful for lots of TLDR; people!

I use the Google Article AI summary feature on my Pixel 8 Pro all the time. Lots of articles take forever to answer the question I had from the title, so the summary always grabs that and then I can skip the rest of the article. :joy:

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42

:+1:

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It seems the message here from Wyze fanboys and girls is to shoot the messenger when someone brings legitimate and serious concerns about Wyze security and how it is being handled and prevented. Based on the frequent security breaches Wyze has some serious issues, no matter how you try and sugar coat it.

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I think criticism is important and quite welcome when expressed properly. In fact it is absolutely critical.

I do have a degree in Psychology and Sociology and I can tell you there is a huge difference in the way in which criticism is handled.

Helpful CONSTRUCTIVE Criticism:

  • Descriptive and Specific: Provides specific, actionable suggestions rather than vague general advice.
  • Facts are Correct, not misconstrued, exaggerated, misleading, not click bait, not misrepresentation for fear mongering, not a twisted narrative, etc.
  • Focus on Solutions: Helpful criticism often includes potential solutions. Instead of merely pointing out flaws, it aims to assist by suggesting ways to address the issues,
  • Leaves You Hopeful: Constructive criticism typically ends on a positive note, leaving room for improvement. It inspires growth and motivates change.
  • Respectful: The way feedback is delivered matters. Empathetic feedback considers how the recipient feels and aims to encourage improvement rather than hurt. At the very least it should be courteous. If should not involve personal attacks.

Unhelpful (Harmful) Critique:

  • Vagueness: Unhelpful criticism is often vague and lacks descriptiveness, leaving the recipient confused and unsure about how to improve. Common General Example given to businesses that is almost totally pointless and unhelpful: “This company has terrible customer service!!”
  • Destructive and Negative Tone: When criticism is delivered with hostility or disparaging comments, it becomes unhelpful. The real issue gets lost behind anger.
    Intent to Hurt: Some critiques are meant to harm rather than help. They hinder growth and discourage positive change. The objective is not about improvement, it is about tearing down a company’s reputation without reasonably proposed solutions. This kind of criticism should not be seen as acceptable by most reasonable people as the sole intent is a form of [non-physical] violence instead of constructive. Emotional tantrums and outbursts are rarely to never taken seriously by the receiver and almost never have a positive outcome. But it is still human nature to do it for the temporary dopamine release. But it is still basically never constructive. Threats and anger do not actually work to achieve anything sustainable in the long run. Trolling is not helpful.
  • No Focus on Solutions: Unhelpful critique doesn’t offer solutions; it merely highlights problems without suggesting ways to address them.

Here’s an analogy: Imagine giving feedback to a friend on their cooking. Helpful criticism would be saying, “The chicken is a bit dry. Maybe try marinating it next time?” Unhelpful criticism would be yelling, “This food is awful! You’re a terrible cook!”

There is a huge difference between the two kinds of “criticism.” One is welcome and helpful and constructive, and the other is a kind of [non-physical] violence intended to be destructive, unhelpful, attacky, vague, negative, disrespectful, hurtful, reputational damage, etc. There is nothing positive that comes from that kind of immature outburst.

There is nothing wrong with criticism in general. As I stated above, I criticize where warranted and I can do it in a way that welcomes positive responses and motivation as I demonstrated here with my constructive criticism to Wyze:

I actually constructively criticize Wyze ALL THE TIME, both in public and in backchannels and it is extremely helpful, constructive and often helps to drive positive change including things many people may never realize or notice. But I promise that a lot more gets done by doing things in the right way. Maybe it shouldn’t matter, but the fact of life is that all people are still people, and if we want receivers of criticism to be receptive to it, then it is important to present and communicate said criticism in ways that will be effective for our ultimate goal. If our goal is to be destructive and make things worse, then the least we can do is be honest with ourselves about that if not everyone else. But we should not be surprised if people don’t take it seriously and instead present things with facts that are correct, descriptive and specific, focus on solutions, leaves the situation hopeful, and delivers legit criticism in a way that is constructive and respectful/courteous. That is much more effective.

If being constructive is the goal, then presenting our concerns in a way that does the opposite of what we want to have happen is not the smart thing to do, and those who are trying to be constructive are welcome to present things in a more constructive manner.

All are welcome to have different opinions or disagree as long as they are within the community guidelines:

Anyway, nobody should ever feel like Criticism isn’t welcome or important. Even destructive and negative criticism about Wyze is specifically allowed (not attacks against individual users though), so people are welcome to post that way if they desire. It is allowed. I personally don’t think it is as effective as constructive criticism in getting the improvements we generally desire, but it is certainly allowed as long as it follows the rest of the guidelines. Some people feel better venting a little, or announcing when they are leaving, etc. If that is what works for them, and all they were looking for in order to get some closure, then they can absolutely do that if it meets the need they were looking for. :+1: There is no forum rule against it and they are welcome to do so. I am only stating above what actually works from a psychological, sociological standpoint, and is good practice for general relationship interaction as well.

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45

Wow, You need to get outside, travel. No way am I reading your multiple paragraphs defending Wzye so fanboy’ist. I get it you’re a “Forum Maven” here, but wow your replies are nuts. This forum is now equal to going to some rabid Apple site.

BTW, Cnet is a decent tech site. Also The Verge came down on Wyze over this too. Is The Verge now a rag tech site too? *hit happens. Facebook was down this morning.

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46

1000% haha.
I never read his posts due to TLDR.
I would rather read Tolkien for sure, time well spent.

I am sure he is about to write up a reply over the next hour, expect another short story lol.

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47

This reminds me of people who hadn’t seen Last Temptation of Christ but had a strong opinion. ‘Don’t need to see it. I know what it’s about.’ :wink:

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48

Surely all that needs to be said is this: if images from your camera (even just a thumbnail) can be seen by someone other than you, then that camera cannot be called secure.

Until Wyze implements either a “local network only” offline mode and/or true end-to-end encryption then their products cannot and should not be considered truly secure.

Anything less than those two options and it’s a case of “when” the next security breach will occur; not “if”.

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Remember that you get what you pay for.

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I am sure he has good things to say but I like getting my facts and information quicker. Keep it short and sweet. But that’s me. As I get older I notice TLDR is more noticeable. :older_man:

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I figure

Could be wrong but it’s a pet theory. :test_tube:

Also, the carver isn’t against anyone machine-summarizing his posts (as you did upthread) soooooo…

…all (or mostly) good. :+1: :slight_smile:

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Being TLDR is in the Eye Of The Beholder. I actually appreciate some of CarverOfChoice’s long posts and bookmark them for future reference. I have this link bookmarked because of post #2.

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53

You may be right.

I may be crazy. :crazy_face:

Definitely not disgruntled in any way.

I enjoy his posts but may not read it all.

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It’s all good. I have no insecurities about my loquaciousness. It is not for everyone, but a lot of detail-oriented people like me do like and appreciate it.

For many of my posts I try to cater to low attention span or TLDR; people by bolding the highlights or sometimes posting a TLDR; summary.

In general though, I am not bothered by those not interested in reading my posts. They aren’t for everyone. Sometimes they aren’t even really intended for the person I respond to, but instead are giving voice to the countless other observers who read and never publicly post.

To each their own, I do not mind. :+1:

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Very good. I would hate to offend.

You’re always there when I need you and you are doing a great job.

I may need more caffeine to read longer posts.

In general, I don’t like to read books. My Dad and my sister got the reading gene in our family. Maybe besides summarizing, I can have my PC read it out to me. I do like audio books.

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No worries buddy. :+1: No offense taken. I also skip/skim SOME long posts too. I read ones I’m particularly interested in and skip or skim some others. I’d be hypocritical to be upset when someone does the same for some of mine. :joy: I totally understand. And I often joke about it with my friends.

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57

Yup, when their firmware update bricked my new, just out of the box, Wyzecam I had to waste time going back & forth to end up with a 10.00 credit. It’s an insult and feels like they don’t value customers, even ones with 15 cameras and recurring subscriptions.
And don’t get me started on the beta floodlight, more hours wasted. I threw it in the garbage

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Honestly the entire camera system sucks BAD. One decent developer in a month could make such a huge difference in how bad this company sucks.

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Only 4 paragraphs haha

I equate TLDR with: I have a life other than this forum.

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Haha. I think those were the words I was looking for but tried to candy-coat them. May try chocolate next time.

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