Thursday, March 27, 2014

Snapsort Doesn't Think For You

For the uninitiated, Snapsort is a website where users can compare specifications of two cameras, and the site will give all the comparisons with layman's annotations, and a verdict between the two cameras to decide which option is superior. The site has become unspeakably popular in the last few years, owing mainly to usage by people on bargain hunting or consumer tech sites like RFD or Slickdeals by people who know little about photography, and act as if the site's evaluation is the final word on the matter (example 1, example 2...I could go on). Thankfully dedicated photography forums aren't as rife with people trying to oversimplify what is in fact a difficult decision for people, since users there almost always have actual insight to give. But through Snapsort's oversimplification, all the site (and those who post its comparison links without commentary) manages to accomplish is an emphasis on the quantitative, when the qualitative is more important.