5 ms·

What if you publish a negative review of a restaurant? Now it's super easy for them to find you and possibly harass you. What if you're in a marginalized group?

What if you publish a negative review of a restaurant? Now it's super easy for them to find you and possibly harass you. What if you're in a marginalized group? Now online harassment can move into real world harassment if you've reviewed local places you enjoy. Lots of people are harmed by a "real names" policy: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Who_is_harmed_by_a_%22Real_Names%22_policy%3F http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Who_is_harmed_by_a_%22Rea...

cloudwalking 13y ago
Why would Google show a negative review as an "endorsement"? If you rate a restaurant 1 out of 5 stars, Google isn't going to show "Cloudwalking rated this 1/5 stars!" in an ad.
- minikites 13y ago
  Who's to say they won't start doing that in the future, where a competitor could purchase the negative review? And, what about my second point, which applies to any kind of review?
- ihsw 13y ago
  Because people form a stronger rapport with those who share negative experiences than positive experiences. Granted, trying to take advantage of this is walking a very narrow tightrope, however if executed well then it could be hugely profitable. Confirmation bias tells us that negative reviews will always be more numerous than positive reviews, however those people writing negative reviews will feel a stronger cohesion with each-other. As such, negative reviews will be more valuable to how people form first impressions.
  - Permit 13y ago
    I don't think anything you've mentioned is relevant at all. Google isn't going to show your negative review beside a paid ad because it'd help you build rapport with friends... Keep in mind these are paid ads, Google is trying to further promote/endorse the advertiser.
    - vdaniuk 13y ago
      It would certainly be interesting to analyze a game theory model for ads if one could surface negative reviews about competitors.
- spankalee 13y ago
  Actually, I would really hope they do. One of the principles behind Google's ad systems is that they're useful for users and advertisers, that a good ad can benefit everyone involved. If they show me an ad for something that my friends have negatively reviewed, I damn well want to see those negative reviews right along-side the ad. Disclaimer: Googler
  - cloudwalking 13y ago
    Better yet, Google should not show ads for products that my friends rate poorly...
    - spankalee 13y ago
      Good point. I've always thought that ads that were reviewed, and could be reviewed very negatively, would be an interesting check on scams and bad products. You gladly take the advertisers money, but if people rate the ad poorly it's a waste and possibly negative value. This might encourage good ads and ads for good products.
    - nooneelse 13y ago
      But I (and probably no one) trust(s) all my friends about every topic or type of product/service. So better to show me the ad and which friend(s) gave the review so I can determine if that is actually a mark against the ad or not.
    - notatoad 13y ago
      that sounds like a really good idea, both from a consumer perspective and an advertiser perspective. i don't want to see ads for things that my friends don't think i'd be interested in, and i don't want to pay to have my ads shown to people whose friends are just going to warn them away from me.
  - md224 13y ago
    Honest question: how do you rationalize the influence of bid amount on AdWords ad positioning? In other words, if two companies buy ad space, and one of the ads has a slightly lower quality score but a much higher bid price, it will be placed above the higher quality ad. How does this benefit users? Isn't this detrimental to the quality of the information being presented? If a recommendation service prioritizes a recommendation because it was paid more to do so, isn't that akin to bribery? Why have we normalized the morality of this kind of business practice?
- bjterry 13y ago
  The new strategy for negative reviews on Google products will be to offer five star reviews (for visibility) where the text talks about their terrible experience (for truth).
thezilch 13y ago
What if you publish an anonymous negative-review for a competitor? Now it's super easy for you to harass them. What if you're in a non-marginalized group? Now online harassment can ...
avar 13y ago
> What if you publish a negative review of a restaurant? Now it's > super easy for them to find you and possibly harass you. That's already the case if you publish restaurant reviews on Google Maps, isn't the only difference here that those reviews will be presented on search results? Like Afterlife I really don't see what the big deal is. They're taking data that's already public and presenting it slightly differently.
- lstamour 13y ago
  But it's not presenting them in search results. What you opt out of isn't search result featuring, but instead featuring on a little shaded section of the page someone else is paying for. That's money Google collects because I'm the product. And in this case, they're cashing in twice -- featuring my smiling face, using one product to sell another. That's too much. I care about other people's search experience and I want them to have less ad space on a page, not more. So I opt out so my friends can more easily ignore ads and focus on content. If I recommend something, social search should mean it appears in search results for friends anyway, why should I give Google extra cash for using my face to advertise to my friends if they're not paying me?
jonknee 13y ago
If you are scared that someone will come after you it's blindingly obvious to not publish a review under your name. Google's change here has nothing to do with the issue either--you can certainly be recognized by a review on Amazon, Yelp, Google, Facebook or any other public venue. Google does allow easy to use privacy controls though, so that's at least a step in the right direction.
colmvp 13y ago
What if you publish a negative review of a restaurant? Now it's super easy for them to find you and possibly harass you. That actually happened to a friend of mine, and he enjoyed it. Made the restaurant look even worse when he posted their infantile response.
- thret 13y ago
  Happened to me too. I got an email from their lawyer making vague threats and I thought about it, and replied that they could sue me if they so wished. They had no case (obviously) and I've the time and money so I was kind of curious to explore the legal system in that light.
chrischen 13y ago
What you mean like how people publish negative reviews right on the restaurant's Yelp profile?
riquito 13y ago
So you publish a PUBLIC negative review, with your name and photo, and then you're surprised it this same review appears somewhere else (in ads, this time)?
- threeseed 13y ago
  I would be very surprised if my name, photo and review appeared in advertising. Who wouldn't ?
- makomk 13y ago
  No, you'd publish a public review with your Google account, which has a Google+ profile attached (otherwise Google won't let you leave reviews for Android applications on their app store anymore), and that account will have your name and photo.

cloudwalking 13y ago

Why would Google show a negative review as an "endorsement"? If you rate a restaurant 1 out of 5 stars, Google isn't going to show "Cloudwalking rated this 1/5 stars!" in an ad.

minikites 13y ago
Who's to say they won't start doing that in the future, where a competitor could purchase the negative review? And, what about my second point, which applies to any kind of review?
ihsw 13y ago
Because people form a stronger rapport with those who share negative experiences than positive experiences. Granted, trying to take advantage of this is walking a very narrow tightrope, however if executed well then it could be hugely profitable. Confirmation bias tells us that negative reviews will always be more numerous than positive reviews, however those people writing negative reviews will feel a stronger cohesion with each-other. As such, negative reviews will be more valuable to how people form first impressions.
- Permit 13y ago
  I don't think anything you've mentioned is relevant at all. Google isn't going to show your negative review beside a paid ad because it'd help you build rapport with friends... Keep in mind these are paid ads, Google is trying to further promote/endorse the advertiser.
  - vdaniuk 13y ago
    It would certainly be interesting to analyze a game theory model for ads if one could surface negative reviews about competitors.
spankalee 13y ago
Actually, I would really hope they do. One of the principles behind Google's ad systems is that they're useful for users and advertisers, that a good ad can benefit everyone involved. If they show me an ad for something that my friends have negatively reviewed, I damn well want to see those negative reviews right along-side the ad. Disclaimer: Googler
- cloudwalking 13y ago
  Better yet, Google should not show ads for products that my friends rate poorly...
  - spankalee 13y ago
    Good point. I've always thought that ads that were reviewed, and could be reviewed very negatively, would be an interesting check on scams and bad products. You gladly take the advertisers money, but if people rate the ad poorly it's a waste and possibly negative value. This might encourage good ads and ads for good products.
  - nooneelse 13y ago
    But I (and probably no one) trust(s) all my friends about every topic or type of product/service. So better to show me the ad and which friend(s) gave the review so I can determine if that is actually a mark against the ad or not.
  - notatoad 13y ago
    that sounds like a really good idea, both from a consumer perspective and an advertiser perspective. i don't want to see ads for things that my friends don't think i'd be interested in, and i don't want to pay to have my ads shown to people whose friends are just going to warn them away from me.
- md224 13y ago
  Honest question: how do you rationalize the influence of bid amount on AdWords ad positioning? In other words, if two companies buy ad space, and one of the ads has a slightly lower quality score but a much higher bid price, it will be placed above the higher quality ad. How does this benefit users? Isn't this detrimental to the quality of the information being presented? If a recommendation service prioritizes a recommendation because it was paid more to do so, isn't that akin to bribery? Why have we normalized the morality of this kind of business practice?
bjterry 13y ago
The new strategy for negative reviews on Google products will be to offer five star reviews (for visibility) where the text talks about their terrible experience (for truth).

thezilch 13y ago

What if you publish an anonymous negative-review for a competitor? Now it's super easy for you to harass them. What if you're in a non-marginalized group? Now online harassment can ...

avar 13y ago

> What if you publish a negative review of a restaurant? Now it's > super easy for them to find you and possibly harass you. That's already the case if you publish restaurant reviews on Google Maps, isn't the only difference here that those reviews will be presented on search results? Like Afterlife I really don't see what the big deal is. They're taking data that's already public and presenting it slightly differently.

lstamour 13y ago
But it's not presenting them in search results. What you opt out of isn't search result featuring, but instead featuring on a little shaded section of the page someone else is paying for. That's money Google collects because I'm the product. And in this case, they're cashing in twice -- featuring my smiling face, using one product to sell another. That's too much. I care about other people's search experience and I want them to have less ad space on a page, not more. So I opt out so my friends can more easily ignore ads and focus on content. If I recommend something, social search should mean it appears in search results for friends anyway, why should I give Google extra cash for using my face to advertise to my friends if they're not paying me?

jonknee 13y ago

If you are scared that someone will come after you it's blindingly obvious to not publish a review under your name. Google's change here has nothing to do with the issue either--you can certainly be recognized by a review on Amazon, Yelp, Google, Facebook or any other public venue. Google does allow easy to use privacy controls though, so that's at least a step in the right direction.

colmvp 13y ago

What if you publish a negative review of a restaurant? Now it's super easy for them to find you and possibly harass you. That actually happened to a friend of mine, and he enjoyed it. Made the restaurant look even worse when he posted their infantile response.

thret 13y ago
Happened to me too. I got an email from their lawyer making vague threats and I thought about it, and replied that they could sue me if they so wished. They had no case (obviously) and I've the time and money so I was kind of curious to explore the legal system in that light.

chrischen 13y ago

What you mean like how people publish negative reviews right on the restaurant's Yelp profile?

riquito 13y ago

So you publish a PUBLIC negative review, with your name and photo, and then you're surprised it this same review appears somewhere else (in ads, this time)?

threeseed 13y ago
I would be very surprised if my name, photo and review appeared in advertising. Who wouldn't ?
makomk 13y ago
No, you'd publish a public review with your Google account, which has a Google+ profile attached (otherwise Google won't let you leave reviews for Android applications on their app store anymore), and that account will have your name and photo.