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How to spot a fake review online

Interesting article on the Guardian.

"But it was only a matter of time before some of these reviewers got caught out being economical with the truth. In order to highlight the growing prevalence of fake reviews, usually called ‘astroturfing’, the attorney general in New York set up a fake yoghurt shop in a sting called Operation Clean Turf. Eric Schneiderman announced on Monday that 19 companies had commissioned fake reviews on popular online sites. They were fined a total of $350,000. "

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/25/fake-yelp-reviews-guide

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  • Its a big problem Phil. We have been looking into trust pilot

    http://business.trustpilot.co.uk/why-trustpilot

    We have always had real difficulties in trying to get our customers to post reviews on our website. We will often request reviews from our customers but they very rarely provide them. Also to speak frankly we only ever ask for reviews from customers where things have gone well. If we do have an unhappy customer then we are hardly likely to ask them to write a review about us. We will just try and fix the problem for the customer as best we can.

    There is a huge question mark over the credibility of online reviews

    The trustmark scheme means that all the reviews are verified and genuine. The trustmark scheme would also provide some protection for us against malicous reviews because we are given the opportunity to respond to any negative reviews.

  • PRO

    Hi Steve

    I do believe in reviews and I think they are important. - and this can generally be said about comment on forums such as LJN. I think a reader is generally able to understand what is genuine and what is not....and then act accordingly.

    The Guardian article points out what most of all - subconsciously - know already.

    Slightly off-off the main topic of this thread, but related, is Google's decision to have a shake up at YouTube.

    I love YouTube and I never get caught up in the horrible comments but I do feel irritated at having to wade through some many hateful comments (I also often feel sorry for the commenter too) to get to the genuine ones adding something of value.

    An end to the slurs? Google attempts to clean up YouTube comments
    http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/an-en...

  • I'm with you all the way Phil, I also belive that customer reviews are integral to any business. I've learnt though that the only way to make the process credible is by using a verifiable model such as that provided by trustmark

  • what prices are talking for joining trustmark ?

  • There are different tarrifs available and it can be cheaper if you pay for the year up front etc etc but for a buisness of our size it would cost aprox £150-200 per month

  • And the trend is?

    Whilst it was "new" probably the majority are "real" either positive or negative and then the slippery slop sets in as people start to game the system. Short answer is the more you see it the worse the BS is. Just like today everyone has a blog because it's what you do...we stopped about 3 years ago because it's what you don't do. Don't follow trends, set them.
  • all online reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt alot of review sites are paid by, by the contractors so bad reviews will be removed or edited to neutral as they will simply take there money elsewhere

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