[LeeFowler]

What do you guys think about this story? As much as I hate anonymous reviews I think the judge is overstepping his bounds.

http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/8/court-rules-yelp-website-must-identify-seven-negat/

 

[Tech Dawg]

Hey, kudo's to the carpet cleaning company for standing up to this. Everyone wants to be social right? May as well man up and put your name on it.

 

[sunkist]

Every body has the right to face his accuser, True or FALSE!!!.

 

[prowork]

I think all review sites should be required to verify a reviewers identity and obtain proof of a relationship between the customer and the business.

 

[LeeFowler]

I think all review sites should be required to verify a reviewers identity and obtain proof of a relationship between the customer and the business.

Why? I think we all have enough requirements. While I think it might benefit the sites with extra credibility I also think it will scare away good reviews.

Personally I want government to stay out of private relationships unless it involves a breach of contract or some such thing.

 

[BamBamm5144]

Why? I think we all have enough requirements. While I think it might benefit the sites with extra credibility I also think it will scare away good reviews. Personally I want government to stay out of private relationships unless it involves a breach of contract or some such thing.

Why do you think it would scare away good reviews?

I think all review sites should have the names of the person doing the review listed.

 

[JBM]

Being able to bury bad reviews is going to be a skill that most everyone will need to develop at some point. Doesnt do any good trying to fight the 300 different review sites.

 

[LeeFowler]

Why do you think it would scare away good reviews? I think all review sites should have the names of the person doing the review listed.

I was referring specifically to the idea that the review site needs to verify that an actual transaction took place. The more hoops someone has to to through to leave a good review the harder it will be to get good reviews. People who are upset might be more willing to jump through those hoops to get their frustration out.

 

[LeeFowler]

I should point out that I hate reading reviews where the person complains about how the company didn't value them or wouldn't help them. Reviews were service werent rendered seems dumb to me. I also know it can frustrating as a company to face anonymous reviews, but i don't want another layer of government intervention in my life. I think reviews sites will eventually figure out that trusted reviews are much more valuable. Angie's list is basically using this model and so is google. Kudzu on the other hand lets anyone leave a review and they could care less who that person is.

 

[TNTRenovate]

I should point out that I hate reading reviews where the person complains about how the company didn't value them or wouldn't help them. Reviews were service werent rendered seems dumb to me. I also know it can frustrating as a company to face anonymous reviews, but i don't want another layer of government intervention in my life. I think reviews sites will eventually figure out that trusted reviews are much more valuable. Angie's list is basically using this model and so is google. Kudzu on the other hand lets anyone leave a review and they could care less who that person is.

Angie's list is a joke and they do not use so called trusted reviews. Peeling back the layers you find a great deception. Their greatest scam is to allow bad reviews of your company to pass through and then offer their service, for a small fee of course, and allow you to refute the bad review.

Yelp also has a review process which includes how often a user reviews in general. I believe they have different levels of reviewers. A customer of mine was a gold reviewer and invited to a bunch of yelp functions.

The problem is verification and recourse. I can hire a company in India that will go on and give me good reviews and my competition bad reviews. There could be easy steps that companies could take to help deter this kind of fraud. And I do believe that you should have to provide some sort of proof that you actually are who you say you are and that you either used their service or had intended to use that service.

 

[LeeFowler]

Angie's list is a joke and they do not use so called trusted reviews. Peeling back the layers you find a great deception. Their greatest scam is to allow bad reviews of your company to pass through and then offer their service, for a small fee of course, and allow you to refute the bad review. Yelp also has a review process which includes how often a user reviews in general. I believe they have different levels of reviewers. A customer of mine was a gold reviewer and invited to a bunch of yelp functions. The problem is verification and recourse. I can hire a company in India that will go on and give me good reviews and my competition bad reviews. There could be easy steps that companies could take to help deter this kind of fraud. And I do believe that you should have to provide some sort of proof that you actually are who you say you are and that you either used their service or had intended to use that service.

Well obviously you're wrong and I'm right.

 

[danjann]

Why? I think we all have enough requirements. While I think it might benefit the sites with extra credibility I also think it will scare away good reviews.

Personally I want government to stay out of private relationships unless it involves a breach of contract or some such thing.

Is it still private once it's posted on the net?

 

[LeeFowler]

Is it still private once it's posted on the net?

Yes, It's a transaction between two private individuals and not a public (government) entity. I'm not saying Angie's list is great, I'm saying they try to build up their brand by saying they verify reviews and those leaving them. If Angie's list is a scam or not is another story. Also the discussion shouldn't be about review sites and what's right or wrong but more about should government being saying what we are allowed to say about companies or not. I'm well aware laws against liable but the last thing I want is government mandating that google must verify my business dealings before someone can post feedback about my service on the web, be it good or bad. I wish people would fight the natural tendency to turn to government to solve their problems and would instead turn to better private solutions. You think reive sites suck? Go make a better solution that is both easy and good. I believe google has the best system at the moment, but people complain when reviews get deleted.

 

[LeeFowler]

I posted this because it so closely affects everyone with a service business. I think a much better and efficient solution is getting tons of great reviews.

 

[TNTRenovate]

Yes, It's a transaction between two private individuals and not a public (government) entity.

It doesn't have to be in order for the government to get involved. But the fact is the government didn't get involved the individual that was impacted by the review involved them. After requesting the information from them and being refused, they sought the only other avenue that would grant them fairness. If you are going to make a claim that can negatively impact a company you shouldn't be able to hide behind a wall and throw stones.

I'm not saying Angie's list is great, I'm saying they try to build up their brand by saying they verify reviews and those leaving them. If Angie's list is a scam or not is another story.

If they are allowing false reviews in order to pull companies in to pay to refute those reviews it is directly related. How can a company prove that if they are allowed to remain anonymous.

Also the discussion shouldn't be about review sites and what's right or wrong but more about should government being saying what we are allowed to say about companies or not.

I don't remember seeing any where in this thread that suggested the government should restrict what you say. By requiring them to be public concerning the ID, is not impairing anyone from reviewing a company.

I'm well aware laws against liable but the last thing I want is government mandating that google must verify my business dealings before someone can post feedback about my service on the web, be it good or bad.

Unfortunately it is a print media. A newspaper could be considered a transaction between two parties, but they also aren't allowed to just print anything about anybody or any business. A review site has a responsibility to ensure that false claims are not made. What ever that looks like is up for debate.

I wish people would fight the natural tendency to turn to government to solve their problems and would instead turn to better private solutions. You think reive sites suck? Go make a better solution that is both easy and good. I believe google has the best system at the moment, but people complain when reviews get deleted.

Again, I think the natural tendency was to contact the review company first. What other recourse is there? Make another site ourselves? That's a joke right? That's got to be one of the dumbest solutions to the problem. It doesn't even address the problem of responsibility.

 

[LeeFowler]

Again, I think the natural tendency was to contact the review company first. What other recourse is there? Make another site ourselves? That's a joke right? That's got to be one of the dumbest solutions to the problem. It doesn't even address the problem of responsibility.

As previously stated I'm clearly correct.

 

[KAP]

IMHO, if you have to expend a lot of effort on review sites, you're doing something wrong in your business and your energies are being wasted...

 

[TNTRenovate]

IMHO, if you have to expend a lot of effort on review sites, you're doing something wrong in your business and your energies are being wasted...

Not true. I can hire a company to write hundreds of bad reviews on your company. What did you do wrong?

 

[KAP]

Not true. I can hire a company to write hundreds of bad reviews on your company. What did you do wrong?

Piss off the wrong company? How many companies hire and SPEND THEIR OWN MONEY to write bad Yelp reviews on you?

If I were going to spend money, why would I not spend that money on having them write good Yelp reviews about me?

While it's silly on both accounts, certainly seems a more productive use of both YOUR time and money...

If you need to do it either way, and expend a lot of time on review sites, like I said, I would say there is something wrong with your business...

Not much you can do about the reviews that are there, so no sense in wasting time on them... if you are unethical where you need to spend time and money on it hiring a company to write false reviews, yet another symptom of a company with problems...

 

[TNTRenovate]

Piss off the wrong company? How many companies hire and SPEND THEIR OWN MONEY to write bad Yelp reviews on you?

If I were going to spend money, why would I not spend that money on having them write good Yelp reviews about me?

While it's silly on both accounts, certainly seems a more productive use of both YOUR time and money...

If you need to do it either way, and expend a lot of time on review sites, like I said, I would say there is something wrong with your business...

Not much you can do about the reviews that are there, so no sense in wasting time on them... if you are unethical where you need to spend time and money on it hiring a company to write false reviews, yet another symptom of a company with problems...

You skew everything. Your point was there is something wrong with a company who spends time on online reviews.

Unfortunately it's the future and there are companies that will write reviews for you or any other company you want for just a few dollars a review.

It's obvious that it hadn't affected you, but if it ever does I am sure that you would give it the attention it deserved.

And the fact that this company did something that may change the way online reviews are handled says there is something you can do.

I get several leads a week from yelp, why wouldn't I cultivate it and spend resources on it?