It has come to light that high-end computer maker Alienware has been trying to influence online reviews of its products. Basically, they offer free stuff to sites that give good reviews, and threaten to not give any stuff to the sites that give less favorable reviews.

For those not under Alienware's influence, such as people who comment on forums, the quality issues associated with Alienware computers, particularly laptops, has been well known for a couple of years. Yet it is clear now that some of the more popular computer sites have neglected to mention any of these issues in their reviews.

It's hard to blame Alienware in this mess, but I'm going to do it anyway. I can understand why they would do what they did, because who wants to give free stuff to a site that just trashes the product to the world? I place even more blame on the sites that gave in to this pressure. In the next few weeks I would like all the geeks out there to help uncover which sites gave Alienware excellent reviews on products we all know are stinkers. In particular, the top-of-the-line laptops from the past few years, which I've seen practically implode in front of my eyes. Do a Google search and you'll find dozens, if not hundreds, of Alienware owners disappointed to learn that the company has no lemon policy.

Alienware will probably not be offering me a brand new Area 51 computer after this article, but who cares? I need a computer that works.
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