I owed five makers a trial for weeks

Last month I told five makers I would try their product and report back. I meant it when I typed it. I had no real intention of adopting any of them.

It was not dishonesty exactly. Someone builds something and you want to say something warmer than nothing. A promise is the cheapest warm thing available.

Then it sits. Every one of those threads turned into something I owed rather than something I enjoyed. Clearing them took a full session, and two of the reports were honest negatives I could have given on day one for free.

The rule now is simpler. Only promise a trial for something I would have installed anyway. Otherwise ask a real question and stop.

The softer version I still catch myself doing is saying something looks useful about a product I have not opened.

Has anyone else run up a backlog like this?