Online Review Sites

[Facemasker]

What's your views on people being allowed to post personal opinions on review sites? Do you approve of them or hate them?
I can see in some ways how they can help in some situations if you're thinking of buying something or using a service and want a general idea of it's good or bad but overall (as a business owner) I absolutely detest review sites and the people who regularly post on them as if it's a game.

(edited) "A large majority" of the people who post on them only want to comment to have a moan and complain about any little issue they can find.....and to make things even worse they always over exaggerate everything, and get highly emotional and personal with their words, and they seem hell bent on actually trying to destroy peoples businesses instead of giving a fair and constructive representation.

My verdict? Get rid of personal opinions on all review sites and just allow the "1 to 5 star" rating system for helpful feedback and experiences. Not many things in life are ever 100% perfect but the world doesn't need to hear all your petty bitching and moaning about every little trivial issue you can think of to post a negative comment about..

 

[Facemasker]

Where did you get this 90% figure from?

Okay, well replace that % with whatever level you're comfortable accepting pal, or adjust it accordingly based on whatever info you can gleen from national statistics if you have a desire for total accuracy.

90% wasn't meant to be a factual statement that needed a debate. It was just a random generalisation based on the attitudes I frequently see when I read reviews.

 

[Facemasker]

There should be a review site for people who sign up and create multiple accounts, so we can review their effort.

How do I speak with you privately? These little digs towards me over the last couple of days are getting tiresome already (and they're also false/not true).

If I've said something on here that upset you, I hereby publically apologise, but please stop being bitchy and talk to me privately so this issue can be resolved.

 

[Facemasker]

Start a thread in FCD.

Nothing bitchy, I’m just calling you out.

I can only assume that your comment was some sort of "in house" joke that only regular members here would understand? I've just browsed over all the sub forums on this site to find a section relative to the letters "FCD" but nothing became apparent and I'm not a stupid guy either.

Link to the section please?

Not sure why you want to call me out when I haven't even done anything wrong on here, or posted anything bad, or done anything that could even be considered trolling....but if it pleases you to attack your new members and interrogate them I'll play along just this once.

Link to FCD section please?

 

[Facemasker]

You realise the mods can see signup IP addresses right? or see if there's multiple accounts been created?

My conversation with Maccy is none of your business pal so please mind your own affairs.

I've got websites/companies of my own and in the past I've owned and run a few small forums so I'm well aware of what admins can see and do from a control panel.

Something is clearly amiss in this situation though as this admin fella (Maccy) has got it into his head from looking at IP addys that I've got multiple accounts/identities active on here....when I know for a 1000% fact that I haven't as I've only got 1 registered account.
If you know anything about IP addys you should already be aware that some IPs are shared/dynamic and not static/dedicated so "sometimes" (if an admin is obsessed with tracking user data) it can look like 1 person is using multiple IDs from an IP addy when in actuality it's several different users on the same shared/dynamic network.

If I wanted to cloak my IP on here, play dumb troll games, and never be tracked by admins, I could easily connect via my VPN (Nord) and set up different new user accounts everyday from hundreds of different IPs and/or Proxys (UK and Globally) and nobody would ever be able to track me and my data here....but I'm not that type of person/moron (thankfully).

 

[Facemasker]

Do you realise I can buy stars? If I want 1000 5* stars I can just pay someone to give me them? or if you want 1* star reviews left for somewhere I can buy them so they can trash the reviews?

Didn't know that but not surprised at all.
Still, I'd prefer that instead of reading a 5 page essay that's purposely crafted to trigger me and provoke a hostile response.

Most businesses are too scared to even interact/respond personally to customers these days as "the game" is to get the business owner to react and look unprofessional and damage their business reputation even further.

The default reply to all negative reviews for most businesses nowadays is something like "We're sorry to hear you're unhappy. Please call us on 01******065 and our team will aim to resolve any problems to your satisfaction". We've absolutely not got any intention of trying to be nice to you or resolve any issues "after" receiving a bad review but we have to try and look professional to other potential clients so we respond with these pleasant and neutral statements rather than telling you what we really think of you as a customer in retaliation to your lies and OTT comments

 

[Facemasker]

Purposely crafted to trigger you?! I think you’re I wrong estimating your importance to the rest of the world.

Dear Sir/Madam, You're welcome to your valued opinion and I will endeavour to adjust my attitude moving forward and be more humble and accepting of my clients needs and feelings in the future. Have a great day and a Merry Xmas. Kindest Regards, Mr Facemasker.

(The above reply is another example of a b/s neutral business response that has absolutely no genuine sentiment behind it but it's better posting that "publically" than telling you what I really think/feel about your last comment and what my initial opinions about you as a person are)

 

[Facemasker]

I know you’re trying very hard to be clever and funny so too marks for effort. But do you really think I care what your opinions are about me as a person?
Strangers opinions of you as a person are obviously very important to you, I’m lucky in that I don’t really give a flying monkeys backside what you or some other stranger thinks of me

That's great, very informative.
You've had your little rant now and I've given up a bit of my time being respectful enough to even answer you but quit all your personal "mumbo jumbo" now pal.

Stay on topic and be constructive with an opinion about review sites...or leave the thread and go and find something else to talk about.

 

[Facemasker]

They have a place - and honestly, it's bloody easy to get an idea on those making proper reviews, and those who are just being idiots - so you just ignore those and see what others are saying.

I have given both good and bad reviews over the years, and I am always honest - if a place or business has done a great job, then I'll put a 5 star review on with details of what was good etc. On the flip side, if they deserve a lower review, I'll take the time to explain why.

Honestly though, if I'm looking to use a business and notice they have a low rating; I'll spend my time reading the non idiot reviews, to see what they're like, then make a decision myself

It's interesting to read info like this and see things from the clients viewpoint coz from a business owners viewpoint it's totally crushing to get a negative review full of lies and exaggerations when you can't even do anything to get the fake review deleted in most cases.

What I've noticed in my own business reviews over the last 5 years is that (for example) out of every 500 satisfactorily completed jobs with no issues about 300 of those clients won't even bother taking the time to leave a positive review and show their appreciation for a job well done (self centered/uncaring). From the remaining 200 I might be lucky to get about 130 clients who are normal and nice enough to leave an honest and positive review but the other 70 will just be horrible crazies who clearly enjoy being nasty and extreme and posting negatives.

The damage caused by those negative reviews far outweighs the positives from good reviews (in my experience) as I'm regularly having to defend myself via phone calls and emails from potential clients who like the price of the service but are worried by the bad reviews and think a 97.4% overall rating is not high enough

Clients these days have set a really high bar for businesses if 97.4% out of 100% is too low a score for a 4.5 star rated service that has operated for nearly 10 years and completed over 6000 jobs

 

[Facemasker]

There's a reason for that.

I'm not trying to hide anything on here pal but it looks like there's a few members itching for a bit of drama to kick off.

Yes I have very briefly posted on this site once before and that was only a few months ago and I complained about a feature of the forum software that was irritating me a bit. I got a few sharp/snotty comments from 2 members of the staff team (and I'm fairly sure you were one of them) so I had a little hissy fit, words were exchanged back and forth, and I said I was leaving and stopped posting in a huff. I think you and I may also have had a little spat in a conversation about voting for a new OC staff member but that was a bit silly on both sides.

Long story short....I've calmed down now and realised the software wasn't actually that annoying and I probably could've just taken a bit more time to adjust to how this site is set up but when I tried to log into my original account recently I discovered it had been shut down/permabanned.

I sort of missed being a member here as there's some good people worth talking to on these forums so I signed up for another account with a new name. I'm sure you know who I am/was from the info you can see in the admin panel but I'm certainly not trying to evade detection by opening a new account. That being said....I don't think there needs to be a "big reveal" about my old username coz in this account and the old one I hadn't done or said anything wrong on this forum. I had an issue with the software that spiralled out of control, and again, got a bit silly from both sides tbh.

If I actually wanted to hide from you I could easily set up another account(s) and connect via my VPN on my other laptop using several new/unlinked IP addys and, trust me, you would never know it was me (unless perhaps by a similar style of posting/wording).

So what's your poison pal? Live and let live? Or do I need to make myself invisible in a new account(s) and go into stealth mode just to be a member on this forum lol

 

[Facemasker]

There we are then, you've finally admitted to being a returnee which is specifically against the forum rules.

Nobody asked me if I was a returnee and I would've answered that question openly if it was asked.
Perhaps the admins might make an exception in my specifc case, or perhaps they won't and this account will get closed too, but if I want to post on this site again I will still be able to, and next time, I won't bother being honest open and transparent.

I don't particularly want to play hide and seek games with the admins as that's just silly and childish and hopefully they are more mature than you appear to be.