status-monitor Is it legit to create a thread and offer a review on behalf of a third party?

[carob]

Its understandable that members would be concerned if they see someone starting multiple threads complaining about services they may not even have used. I still want to know if it is legit to create a thread and offer a review on behalf of a third party - surely you can only offer your own review of your own experience?

 

[usernamex]

This happens often in the Coupon and Registrar review sections, many times members will report issues based on either
1] a single issue where they scream the company is evil, then never report back that support actually handed it or it turns out it was user error
2] very old experiences, like years ago they swore off a company and still report negatively
3] parroting what they have heard without having ever actually used the company or service in question

It would be lovely if we had some type of "Verified Purchase" like they do at amazon.

 

[Eric Lyon]

Hello,

We do not believe there is a problem with someone who has never used a service to ask for a review of that service or to start a review thread for that service. However, we do not think it is appropriate for anyone to leave a review on behalf of someone else. We are investigating the best ways to handle that and to update the rules.

Thanks for your patience,

It would be lovely if we had some type of "Verified Purchase" like they do at amazon.

That would be excellent.

Unfortunately, it is not possible with any level of confidence (Screenshots/videos can be forged) unless the purchase happens on your own website using your own payment processor (Or Third-Party payment processor that reports results directly to you), which is what Amazon does.