{"id":676,"date":"2015-12-06T10:50:30","date_gmt":"2015-12-06T18:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/?p=676"},"modified":"2019-07-15T08:39:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T06:39:10","slug":"scouting-honest-reviews-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/scouting-honest-reviews-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Scouting Honest Reviews Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

A quarter hour spent reading this post will inform you of my far-from-perfect approach to IDing legit reviews online.<\/p>\n

WHY IT MATTERS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The press has finally paid some attention to bogus reviews; witness this article<\/a>, describing the market for such prostituted praise on Fiverr. Such articles can persuade innocents that Something Is Being Done, that reviews will henceforth be more trustworthy.<\/p>\n

Lo dudo<\/em>, dear reader, lo dudo mucho<\/em>. Try plugging ‘review’ into the Fiverr search box; you’ll see. And those offers are just from the small fry. I’d be shocked if a corporate VP can’t read between the lines of a PR agency pitch to, say, \u201ccommunicate product benefits to internet users\u201d or \u201cenhance brand image online.\u201d<\/p>\n

I have no evidence to back up such cynicism, still trust wisdom gained from decades as a grown-up. A national magazine ad campaign can cost<\/a> as much as a Belvedere ch\u00e2teau. How much does it cost to click ‘post?’<\/p>\n

Bogus reviews are too cheap, too profitable, too influential<\/a>, too tough to catch. That VP doesn’t have to spell out what she wants to a gig-hungry PR agency. \u201cNever write what you can say, never say what you can wink\u201d made Aphorism for a reason.<\/p>\n

If in doubt, please read this former boxing manager’s description<\/a> of the reading-between-the-lines phrases he once used to fix fights:<\/p>\n

You call up or visit the gym of any trainer who represents “opponents,” and have the following exchange:<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’ve got a middleweight who could use a little work.” [Read: His fight shouldn’t be more than a brisk sparring session<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

“I got a good kid. But he ain’t been in the gym much lately.” [He’s out of shape<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

“That’s OK. I’m not looking for my guy to go too long.” [It’s got to be a knockout win<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

“My kid can give him maybe three good rounds.”<\/span><\/p>\n

And that’s it. Your fighter’s next bout will go into the record books as a third-round knockout victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

MY TECHNIQUES<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I presume that most fake reviews are still relatively unsophisticated. Puff your client’s stuff, occasionally slam competitors. Those fakes are low-hanging fruit. My odds of finding bonafide reviews sink as the fake-a-loo pros try harder to fool me.<\/p>\n

I ignore the reviews on the first page, assume that the biz or PR agency will make sure these are 4s and 5s. If they aren’t, I may have found a biz that doesn’t game reviews (or that bounced a check to the agency that does).<\/p>\n

I click ‘poor’ and ‘terrible’ reviews, look at review dates. If they’re old, I might ignore them. If they’re new, I review the reviewer. Has he written many reviews? Does he complain for a reason, or because a hotel 86d him because his smuggled-in pit bull bit the maid who touched his smoldering hookah?<\/p>\n

I presume that the most valuable reviews may be in the middle ranges; counterfeiters can’t significantly puff or sink star ratings with 3 star posts. I weed out 3 stars that may accidentally-on-purpose work in a plug for a competitor — e.g., Oh, I guess ABC was okay, but golly gee, my pal said XYZ is way better<\/strong>, and it’s on sale<\/strong>, too!<\/em> — and study the rest, with an eye for structural product or facility problems mentioned by many reviewers. Thin hotel walls cost money to fix.<\/p>\n

The safest bets may be facilities and products that have been widely reviewed for many months without recent, believable 1 and 2 star blackballs. I rarely find them, but I look.<\/p>\n

HOW LONG WILL MY TECHNIQUES WORK?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not much longer, and a candid fake-a-loo reviewer might convince me that they don’t work now for some products. I can’t see through a determined fake. A PR agency might carefully groom posting histories for a herd of thousands of fake accounts.<\/p>\n

Some consumer benefits are short-lived. I got much more from online reviews when the ‘net was relatively new.<\/p>\n

I see an opening for ‘old school’ media that shepherded consumers in the days before URLs and email. A company could patiently build a rep as a dispenser of honest advice, and profit thereby. Alas, many will think it more fruitful to pretend<\/em> to be honest advice providers, and to cash out before being unmasked.<\/p>\n

I apologize, younger readers: you were volunteered by birth into an often difficult world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A quarter hour spent reading this post will inform you of my far-from-perfect approach to IDing legit reviews online. WHY IT MATTERS The press has finally paid some attention to bogus reviews; witness this article, describing the market for such prostituted praise on Fiverr. Such articles can persuade innocents that Something Is Being Done, that… <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nScouting Honest Reviews Online - Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A traveler shares tips for evaluating the trustworthiness of online reviews.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/scouting-honest-reviews-online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scouting Honest Reviews Online - Travel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A traveler shares tips for evaluating the trustworthiness of online reviews.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/scouting-honest-reviews-online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tim Adams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-06T18:50:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-15T06:39:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Adams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Adams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transitophile.com\\\/chango\\\/scouting-honest-reviews-online\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transitophile.com\\\/chango\\\/scouting-honest-reviews-online\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tim Adams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transitophile.com\\\/chango\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad8751e401bdc8efc601320ef9b03a30\"},\"headline\":\"Scouting Honest Reviews Online\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-06T18:50:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-15T06:39:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transitophile.com\\\/chango\\\/scouting-honest-reviews-online\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":743,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transitophile.com\\\/chango\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad8751e401bdc8efc601320ef9b03a30\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Travel\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/transitophile.com\\\/chango\\\/scouting-honest-reviews-online\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transitophile.com\\\/chango\\\/scouting-honest-reviews-online\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transitophile.com\\\/chango\\\/scouting-honest-reviews-online\\\/\",\"name\":\"Scouting Honest Reviews Online - 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