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So you can leave a review without even using the service or product on Yelp? Without a verified purchase, why would anyway take the review seriously?

by gitgud 8y ago

ghaff 8y ago
How would Yelp know if you made a purchase? You’re not buying anything through them. Lack of a verified purchase describes pretty much every review long before there was a Web although there were of course gatekeepers like newspaper editors.
koolba 8y ago
How would you even implement a verified purchase? For a hotel maybe you could forward an itinerary (which can be faked) but there’s probably no receipt for a random taco stand that only accepts cash. Granted the latter does not care as much as the hotel but whatever they do would need to cover everybody.
- markdown 8y ago
  After thinking about this problem for... umm... 30 seconds... Allow users to write reviews, and then send a message to the hotel owner saying "X has posted a review of your business. Do you accept that X was a guest on X date?" The hotel owner is forced to verify the stay before he gets to see the review. Of course he'll know all about the outliers who had a bad experience and complained at the hotel and might want to lie about the guest staying, but such guests are usually very motivated and willing to prove their stay with receipts, photos, etc.
  - smelendez 8y ago
    That's not how Yelp works, though. It's not opt-in or even opt-out. I'd guess most businesses reviewed on Yelp have no relationship with Yelp. And ones with primarily bad reviews (which may not be their fault: cheap motels in particular seem to attract bad reviews from people who expect too much for the price) could just refuse to acknowledge any reviews. Plus I think users are attracted to the illusion that the business doesn't know who they are. People would be less inclined to post reviews if they knew they'd be emailed directly to the business owner for sign off.
  - ttty 8y ago
    Then the hotel owner can put a ton of fake positive reviews and verify all.
  - w1nst0nsm1th 8y ago
    With a receipt system to authenticate real customer and an opt-in inscription to the service by restaurants/hotels, it could make it. It could be linked to an order/invoice number the owner could check or enter in the system when the client check in or check out. The client would then be required to enter that number to authenticate he's a real consumer.
- w1nst0nsm1th 8y ago
  >...but there's probably no receipt... Genius ! Time to go after yelp... A distributed receipt maker to authenticate online hotel/restaurant review system. Hopefully, there is just enough time to IPO before the next stock market crash.
Joakal 8y ago
Hotels can avoid poor reviews with verified services: https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-10/meriton-manipulated-tripadvisor-reviews-federal-court-finds/9138148?screw-google-amp https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-10/meriton-manipulate...
jonplackett 8y ago
not required on amazon either. you can just review anything.

So you can leave a review without even using the service or product on Yelp? Without a verified purchase, why would anyway take the review seriously?

by gitgud 8y ago

So you can leave a review without even using the service or product on Yelp? Without a verified purchase, why would anyway take the review seriously?

ghaff 8y ago

How would Yelp know if you made a purchase? You’re not buying anything through them. Lack of a verified purchase describes pretty much every review long before there was a Web although there were of course gatekeepers like newspaper editors.

koolba 8y ago

How would you even implement a verified purchase? For a hotel maybe you could forward an itinerary (which can be faked) but there’s probably no receipt for a random taco stand that only accepts cash. Granted the latter does not care as much as the hotel but whatever they do would need to cover everybody.

markdown 8y ago
After thinking about this problem for... umm... 30 seconds... Allow users to write reviews, and then send a message to the hotel owner saying "X has posted a review of your business. Do you accept that X was a guest on X date?" The hotel owner is forced to verify the stay before he gets to see the review. Of course he'll know all about the outliers who had a bad experience and complained at the hotel and might want to lie about the guest staying, but such guests are usually very motivated and willing to prove their stay with receipts, photos, etc.
- smelendez 8y ago
  That's not how Yelp works, though. It's not opt-in or even opt-out. I'd guess most businesses reviewed on Yelp have no relationship with Yelp. And ones with primarily bad reviews (which may not be their fault: cheap motels in particular seem to attract bad reviews from people who expect too much for the price) could just refuse to acknowledge any reviews. Plus I think users are attracted to the illusion that the business doesn't know who they are. People would be less inclined to post reviews if they knew they'd be emailed directly to the business owner for sign off.
- ttty 8y ago
  Then the hotel owner can put a ton of fake positive reviews and verify all.
- w1nst0nsm1th 8y ago
  With a receipt system to authenticate real customer and an opt-in inscription to the service by restaurants/hotels, it could make it. It could be linked to an order/invoice number the owner could check or enter in the system when the client check in or check out. The client would then be required to enter that number to authenticate he's a real consumer.
w1nst0nsm1th 8y ago
>...but there's probably no receipt... Genius ! Time to go after yelp... A distributed receipt maker to authenticate online hotel/restaurant review system. Hopefully, there is just enough time to IPO before the next stock market crash.

Joakal 8y ago

Hotels can avoid poor reviews with verified services: https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-10/meriton-manipulated-tripadvisor-reviews-federal-court-finds/9138148?screw-google-amp https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-10/meriton-manipulate...

jonplackett 8y ago

not required on amazon either. you can just review anything.