Product review policies

I've often reviewed books on this site and may review other products some day. I wanted to let readers and potential vendors know what my policies are regarding product reviews.

I don't get paid for reviews. I review things that I find interesting and think that readers would find interesting.

I don't do reviews with strings attached. Most publishers don't try to attach strings. They simply ask me if I'd like a copy of their book, and that's that. A couple publishers have tried to exert more control, and I don't review their books.

I don't write negative reviews because they're not interesting. There are millions of products you won't buy this year. Who cares about another thing not to buy? A negative review could be interesting if it were for a well-known product that many people were thinking about buying, but I haven't been asked to review anything like that. If I find something disappointing, I don't write a review.

Books need to be on paper. Electronic files are fine for reference and for short-form reading, but I prefer paper for long-form reading.

I'm open to reviewing hardware if it's something I would use and something that I think my readers would be interested in. I haven't reviewed hardware to date, but someone offered me a device that expect to review when it gets here.