Time to change review system?

I'm concerned we seem to be getting an awful lot of random new members, who only post 1 or 2 times, and they post a positive review with zero evidence, for one particular tail maker. I feel there's no way we can be sure if these are true or not, and the person's past history on the forum shows they aren't above having people make false accounts or having friends make false accounts etc.

Now, the reviews may very well be legit, but if you've noticed the significant amount of perfect reviews that have gone up in short bursts of time, while actual mernetwork members have been posting complaints, I find it quit suspicious.

I'd like to propose that from now on reviews must either include photos or links to photos and members must reach a post count (say 40 or 50?) before being allowed to post a review. I think this would prevent both false positive and false negative reviews from piling up.

I second this.


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Pics or it didn't happen. Now limiting it by post count, I don't know. I'm kinda worried someone will rack up non-sense or random posting just to get there.

If they post pics it should be decently easy to validate


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Pictures should be HIGHLY encouraged in reviews, if not required. Post count, I dunno. I feel like you lose out potentially on reviews if you do that, some people just aren't into posting on forums or are lurkers and don't want to post. I'm not really sure my stance on that side.

I tend to agree with Aziara and MerEmma...an absolute definite on the photos.

Not really sure how I feel on this. I've sent out more tails that I have photos of, mainly because not everyone has access to a camera. Wouldn't be fair if someone couldn't post a review just cause they don't have access to a camera

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Than* I have photos of

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I feel like nearly everyone has access to one, because I did have that thought at first. I mean, it's not asking for great quality, it's not asking for underwater video. Just pictures of it. Could be cellphone. I understand where you're coming from, don't get me wrong, but cameras are such a commonplace nowadays I don't think it'd be an issue for the majority of people?

Agreed with this, definitely-- I've been noticing this happening and honestly, I find it really hard to take a review seriously when they're all "5/5!!!!!" and then their review is like, half a paragraph, with no photos, no links to the tail they supposedly bought, and so on... Photos should absolutely be included in reviews to show things like seams, paint details, things like that, where need be.

I kinda feel, though, that so long as the reviews are detailed, include photos of the tails being reviewed and aren't just vague half-paragraphs like we've been seeing lately, post count shouldn't really matter; Like Emma said, some people are just shy about posting in regular forum discussions and maybe they feel more comfortable lurking most of the time, but want to post a review somewhere about their tail.

I figure if we focus more on encouraging people to write more detailed, "legitimate"-looking reviews, and especially with photos of the tail as proof, then we don't really need to worry about the post count, really.

there are reviews from people with ZERO post count, and some of the reviews consist of two sentences. it's not hard for someone to just throw a good or bad review up there with no actual merit to it, and the whole reason we started this section of the forum was to be sure reviews were authentic as possible. I'm sorry but if you're incredibly happy with your mermaid tail you can write more than 2 sentences and write something that actually mentions something that can be fact checked. Too vague

several of these posts dont even say what type of tail they had, or anything definable like "it fit well" or the paint job, or anything! just random positive 5 stars 0 posts and 2-3 sentences with no pics. that's NOT a review. that's a comment from a random person. A review is a review of a product, it has details, addresses multiple things, and is at least believable lol

I agree. I have a hard time believing those. A tail is a big purchase and reviewing a tail you love would probably be a bit longer that 2 sentences.


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Yeah, review system needs an overhaul.

And I do think pictures are necessary/should be required. Why? Because practically EVERY FLIPPIN' PHONE AND COMPUTER ALREADY HAS ONE. Seriously, it doesn't have to be an excellent 1080p picture, just something that shows you actually have it rather than are making it up would be nice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AniaR

several of these posts dont even say what type of tail they had, or anything definable like "it fit well" or the paint job, or anything! just random positive 5 stars 0 posts and 2-3 sentences with no pics. that's NOT a review. that's a comment from a random person. A review is a review of a product, it has details, addresses multiple things, and is at least believable lol

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totally this.
I hate the "5/5, all good, top service"-fake comments all over shopping sites, amazon & Co.

A review must contain details regarding the craftsmanship, fit and so on, to help people decide whether the product is suited for them.
If you can't do that, don't post anything.

For Mernetwork, I'd suggest deleting comments in the review section that don't contain at least some viable info.
Not sure about post count though- too little and it won't matter, too much and some legit users might not post a review.

Yeah post count was just an idea because of the zero post count thing. What if we made a template for reviews? I had made one before but I could make a better one.

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If they managed to buy a tail....I really doubt they don't have access to a camera of some kind.

As a safeguard, if pictures are not used, a minumum word count could help fix that.

I can only agree with you all.

It seems to me that many people who write reviews of their tails don't use the proper format anyway, so I wonder if changing it will do anything. Personally I like the format we have now.
I agree that photos would be a good thing, but also not sure about post count for the reasons listed already. Maybe there can be someone in charge of reviews when our admins appoint moderators? At least they could work to make whatever we choose consistent.

Yep these are just my ideas open to suggestions I just see it is being exploited.

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I agree with a possible minimum word count and a required format. Maybe having different required sections such as tail type, paint construction, ease of wear, etc.

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I really like the idea of having maybe separate boxes that are required to fill, then maybe optional ones. Wouldn't stop people from a lack of description, but it'd help people get more detailed in their review. A word count minimum sounds like a good idea but I think it'd also depend a lot on what the subsections would cover.

I agree. Many tailmakers also send the client photos of their tail in progress and a finished product picture to verify that's what the client wanted. Posting that should not be an issue at all. Photos should be required.

Also, maybe not limit it to how many posts, but perhaps how long they've been a member? i.e. you have to have been a mernetwork member for at least 1 month before posting a review. That way lurkers can post reviews without worrying about racking up the posts, and fake reviewers are less likely to remember login information (at least I would) or get discouraged from having to wait so long and decide not to post.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ayla of Duluth

I agree. Many tailmakers also send the client photos of their tail in progress and a finished product picture to verify that's what the client wanted. Posting that should not be an issue at all. Photos should be required.

Also, maybe not limit it to how many posts, but perhaps how long they've been a member? i.e. you have to have been a mernetwork member for at least 1 month before posting a review. That way lurkers can post reviews without worrying about racking up the posts, and fake reviewers are less likely to remember login information (at least I would) or get discouraged from having to wait so long and decide not to post.

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^Ayla, you are really clever! We're all discussing post count, and no one thought of a time-based system. I like this idea.

Letting everyone know that I've changed the rules. At this time I am asking for proof of purchase via photos for the review to be approved- which there is now a moderation queue. Also the review must be at least 400 characters long. There may be other rule changes down the line, depending on how things go. I do appreciate your feedback :)

Also the huge coding issue that was keeping us from adding new tailmakers has been fixed, so I'll be adding them shortly.

Also there are some reviews that I suspect to be falsified. I will be contacting the writers of these reviews to follow up. If they do not respond or can not prove their purchases, their reviews will be removed.

you kick so much ass Iona! woo! lol. thanks for fixing that, I know the coding error was driving you nuts too lol