NY Times Article On Professional Shilling On Internet Review Boards

[EagerBeaver]

If we permitted a reply to every negative review we would also have to permit replies to every positive review and this would never end. Every review thread would turn into a war zone or a love in or both.

I think the Kaii/NJ Dude would be the war zone example. However I think both sides in that affair initially posted honest, less than edited thoughts on the other, and that is why I became annoyed at the deletion of that information. It is true things did deteriorate from there. I understand the MERB policy, but I also find it to be somewhat patronizing in that the underlying attitude seems to be that civil or intelligent exchanges cannot happen, and that all such comments are destined to lead to either "lovefests" or "war zones." It's never been allowed beyond that episode to my knowledge, so as logical as it may seem to be, we have no real empirical evidence to support your theory, beyond that one episode.

It occurred to me that a Yelp waitress accused of being rude or a bad waitress could, if not already a Yelp user, register and offer rebuttal to the critical customer. It's probably very unlikely to happen, however, because the waitress has no way to identify her critic, as Kaii did with NJ Dude, and therefore she is unable to meaningfully respond or offer rebuttal. This also speaks to the importance of attempting to preserve one's anonymity in the review writing process, something all MERB posters should think about whether the escort responds, or the owner on her behalf. We have seen some guys get blacklisted, and maybe they deserved to be blacklisted, but their manner of review writing also tipped off the agency owner as to exactly who it was that he needed to blacklist.

 

[Mod 8]

New moderators? I have been a moderator for 4 years, that is hardly new. We are here to enforce MERB rules and we do so. If you do not like MERB's rules, you know the solution to that. If you have any accusations of corruption and lies to make, I would like to hear them along with the proof of such. To be quite honest, I am tired of reading such bullshit on this board, especially from senior members who should know better by now.

I find it interesting that those who complain the loudest are most often the ones who push the boundaries of the rules and cannot handle it when they are told they have to follow the same rules as everyone else.

Now if you wish to continue this off topic discussion, start a thread for it. Any further off topic posts will be removed with no notice and no reply.

M8

If all the johns are allowed to post on the board, without paying for advertising, why is it that the service providers are not allowed to post just like the johns.....as long as they don't use the board to solicit clients?

The only thing i have up my ass today is that one of the moderators is flexing his muscles unecessarily once again instead of realizing that a post was made out of humor, and then blew things way out of proportion (again!) by threatening the member with a suspension. For making a joke. A joke!

I'm tired of seeing these new moderators (damn i miss the old ones!) with inflated heads come here on my board & use this board to boost up their egos & show everyone how power-hungry they are.

There is not enough democracy on this board. The moderators are appointed without the agreement of the majority & they can be moderators for as long as they feel like it. Just like a dictatorship. Shouldn't there be a time-limit for moderators to serve? How about one-year terms? The problem with not having a time-limit is that it encourages corruption & inflated heads to grow bigger & bigger. And the lies.

Just a thought.

p.s. I do post on Merc once in a while. At least the moderators have a bit of a sense of humor there. AND THERE IS A TECHNOLOGY THREAD!

 

[Mod 8]

Hello EB,

Only paying advertisers are permitted to respond in review threads and only in cases of major problems. If we permitted every SP to answer to reviews it would never end. It would also be providing free advertising to that SP which is unfair to those who do pay to advertise here which enables MERB to remain a free review board. Those have always been the rules on MERB and they will not change. This is also off topic to the thread and if you wish to continue this discussion, please start a new thread.

M8

I think the Kaii/NJ Dude would be the war zone example. However I think both sides in that affair initially posted honest, less than edited thoughts on the other, and that is why I became annoyed at the deletion of that information. It is true things did deteriorate from there. I understand the MERB policy, but I also find it to be somewhat patronizing in that the underlying attitude seems to be that civil or intelligent exchanges cannot happen, and that all such comments are destined to lead to either "lovefests" or "war zones." It's never been allowed beyond that episode to my knowledge, so as logical as it may seem to be, we have no real empirical evidence to support your theory, beyond that one episode.

It occurred to me that a Yelp waitress accused of being rude could, if not already a Yelp user, register and offer rebuttal to the critical customer. It's probably very unlikely to happen because the waitress has no way to identify her accuser, as Kaii did with NJ Dude. This also speaks to the importance of attempting to preserve one's anonymity in the review writing process, something all MERB posters should think about whether the escort responds, or the owner on her behalf. We have seen some guys get blacklisted, and maybe they deserved to be blacklisted, but their manner of review writing also tipped off the agency owner as to exactly who it was that he needed to blacklist.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Come on guys, these last few posts have been off-topic. Please refrain from posting more off-topic posts & stick to the program.

Eagerbeaver, this was an interesting article that you posted. On behalf of the Merb community, we thank you for your contribution. :thumb:

 

[Doc Holliday]

Shilling on Merb might be more subtle than most realize.

I have heard that some agencies offer discounts in return for reviews. Does that not count as a form of shilling? After all, a client who receives a discount would be far likelier to write a good review rather than a bad one. Even if he did not find the encounter good, he would probably either write a review that was more positive than deserved or just write nothing at all in order to get the next discount.

I have to agree with SeekingWomen. I've actually said the same thing in other threads. Why the hell would someone receiving a discount want to publicly post about the negatives for fear he won't be offered that same discount again?

 

[Ob1 Kenobi]

The professional shillers are the ones that will mention a product or company in their reviews. Like she is as reliable as a Toyota Camry.

 

[StefanoUS]

I don't think I'd want to meet the Toyota Camry of SPs - solid but a bit dull and aimed at the 50-65 demographic...

On the other hand, the Ferrari Testarossa of SPs would get my attention.

chercherfemmes,

You're really dating yourself with the Testarossa . Try the new Ferrari 458 Italia ... now that's a build! :nod:

I know, I know, back on topic.

 

[joelcairo]

Thanks for posting this article EB. Excellent food for thought, as evidenced by the fact that MERBites have responded with unfailingly insightful and pertinent comments.

 

[hungry101]

I see a lot of positive reviews. Are these shills? The article pointed out that the satisfied customers are more likely to post a review than unsatisified customers. The point is that it is far more pleasureable to post a positive review than a negative review.

Does anyone think that this is a problem on MERB anyway?Are agency owners over eager to recievve good reviews? I remember telling Martin of Xxxtase that I was having trouble posting a link to his web site for a TER review and Martin said it didn't matter. He explained he was basically in a sold out situation. This seems to be the attitude more often then not from reputable agency owners.

I was recently asked to write a review of one of my escapades in LA. I told the guy OK but it will be honest. I wrote the review and it was honest. A privy I went to a few time in Sao Paulo has a sign saying you will recieve a slight discount for a review in some local SAMPA forum. I went there based on Protagoras Recommendation and not some review in a greaseball local web site. I reviewed them in ISC and it was brutally honest. So big deal. Do we make our choices based on 1 or 2 reviews? Do we wait for a certain hobbyest to bless a SP prior to our booking her? Can we tell a shill (or for that matter a shake down) when we see one? Ever see an obvious shake down and put the girl on your to do list? Have you ever ignored a bad review and arranged to see the girl based on the agencies recommendation? Are hobbyest reviews that important after all?

As far as SP's responding to reviews, I guess MERB does allow this by having the agency owners and Indys respond that advertise respond. I have been involved with sites that allowed this in the US and the SP's seemed to take over. They say "Thank you dear" after every positive review and when someone has the guts to post a negative review they attack the hobbyest and then their SP friends come out of the wood work to support the SP. Than they all congradulate each other for running off the disgusting pervert that has to pay for sex. If I am paying I am writing the fucking review. The day some SP pays me 160$ to go down on her she get on line and talk about how good or how bad my tounge action was and if I had may ass in shape etc.