4 ms·

Reviews on Yelp are anonymous, which provides opportunities to game the system.

by wtracy 16y ago

pitdesi 16y ago
Yelp reviews aren't exactly anonymous, as they require you to use your real name
- jonknee 16y ago
  They require you to use a first name and a last name. It can be whatever you'd like and you're free to change it anytime.
thwarted 16y ago
Seems like anyone with $50 could game angieslist's system.
- bmelton 16y ago
  You've got to believe that significantly reduces the likelihood of somebody writing a bot to register new accounts and vote-bomb the service though. I mean, having written the occasional ballot-stuffer in my day, I don't know of too many customers who'd be willing to pay $50 for each entry, or at least if they were, that would probably reduce the number of fake votes from thousands to one-offs.
  - thwarted 16y ago
    There's no doubt that a $50 charge is a significant hurdle to overcome for someone wanting to ballot box stuff using a bot on a review site, but for this to be a legit contrast to "free" or "anonymous" services, you have to assume that the free/anonymous sites are overrun with bots stuffing the ratings. Each review/vote counts for more if there are less of them. Look at any on-line review site: the wide majority of the entries have at most a handful of reviews/ratings. In order to attempt to influence that one way or another, you only need to have an extended family-size worth of accounts ("Hey cousin Bob, use angieslist to find your next plumber, then can you write a negative review of my landscaping competitor?"). The key is how the site mitigates that. angieslist charges $50 to discourage it -- angieslist also discourages it by having reviews of services you don't continuously need/use a lot of (how many painters can one person hire and review?). Yelp has automated review filtering technology. I assume Google has some algorithmic method. I don't know what citysearch does. I don't think which method you use to discourage/mitigate ballot box stuffing matters as much as that you do have something. On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog, and nobody will even suspect you're a dog if you have $50. Exactly how much verification of the accounts occur? I guess for $50, angieslist can afford to follow up on every account. But in order for that to be effective, the people who pay $50 have to think they are getting $50 worth of service/benefit out of it. It seems to be effective in angieslist case. I, personally, don't use enough of the kinds of services that angieslist lists in order for $50 to be worth it (although, I guess getting screwed for $51 by some shady service provider just once might be enough to make it worth it).

Reviews on Yelp are anonymous, which provides opportunities to game the system.

by wtracy 16y ago

Reviews on Yelp are anonymous, which provides opportunities to game the system.

pitdesi 16y ago

Yelp reviews aren't exactly anonymous, as they require you to use your real name

jonknee 16y ago
They require you to use a first name and a last name. It can be whatever you'd like and you're free to change it anytime.

thwarted 16y ago

Seems like anyone with $50 could game angieslist's system.

bmelton 16y ago
You've got to believe that significantly reduces the likelihood of somebody writing a bot to register new accounts and vote-bomb the service though. I mean, having written the occasional ballot-stuffer in my day, I don't know of too many customers who'd be willing to pay $50 for each entry, or at least if they were, that would probably reduce the number of fake votes from thousands to one-offs.
- thwarted 16y ago
  There's no doubt that a $50 charge is a significant hurdle to overcome for someone wanting to ballot box stuff using a bot on a review site, but for this to be a legit contrast to "free" or "anonymous" services, you have to assume that the free/anonymous sites are overrun with bots stuffing the ratings. Each review/vote counts for more if there are less of them. Look at any on-line review site: the wide majority of the entries have at most a handful of reviews/ratings. In order to attempt to influence that one way or another, you only need to have an extended family-size worth of accounts ("Hey cousin Bob, use angieslist to find your next plumber, then can you write a negative review of my landscaping competitor?"). The key is how the site mitigates that. angieslist charges $50 to discourage it -- angieslist also discourages it by having reviews of services you don't continuously need/use a lot of (how many painters can one person hire and review?). Yelp has automated review filtering technology. I assume Google has some algorithmic method. I don't know what citysearch does. I don't think which method you use to discourage/mitigate ballot box stuffing matters as much as that you do have something. On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog, and nobody will even suspect you're a dog if you have $50. Exactly how much verification of the accounts occur? I guess for $50, angieslist can afford to follow up on every account. But in order for that to be effective, the people who pay $50 have to think they are getting $50 worth of service/benefit out of it. It seems to be effective in angieslist case. I, personally, don't use enough of the kinds of services that angieslist lists in order for $50 to be worth it (although, I guess getting screwed for $51 by some shady service provider just once might be enough to make it worth it).