Fake Restaurant Review

djhb201

Hi everyone,

Sorry to be a bit of a pain but I was wondering whether I could ask for some help/tips on this one.

I was reading the papers again after recently returning from a lovely break with the family in St. Malo and I saw this 'sockpuppetry' thing pop up in a few of the papers - and it got my brain ticking. Oh and in plain English, it's all about writing fake positive reviews for yourself, or being rude to someone else.

Now I know you can't trust anyone on the internet - no offence! - but my mind got curious about restaurant reviews online. My wife, Anne, says TripAdvisor and others are full of other people trashing other websites - and there's a lot of articles on the Guardian about it - but I've never actually seen any examples of it. So can you help this cat who's got a bag full of curiosity?

Do you know of any fake reviews? It's just I'm curious as a) why they do it? b) if they do, how far do they go y'know? Just it bothers me as I always raised that honesty was the best policy. Anyway, I'm rambling. Hope someone out there can help haha.

Sorry to bother.

Thanks,
Daniel Barber

paddyrg

Seeing as you asked so nicely, and signed up especially...

Sockpuppets appear left, right and centre. There are plenty of accounts here with just one or two posts (like yourself) who are created with the sole intent of pushing a message. They usually try to make the message seem like natural conversation, however also usually take up slightly extreme and unnatural characters in their will to over-act. For instance, one character may ask for an opinion on something, or where they might find something, then another account created by the same person might rush in to answer that question with their own agenda. Being the same person, of course they agree, so it's thanks buttons all round in the hope of looking like normal forum behaviour. It always looks false though.

If you really want to see sockpuppetry in action, go onto any site where anyone can rate a service/business and look for any reviews that feel wrong. If something has a rating of lots of * and ***** reviews, they're either so inconsistent they're dangerous, or someone is trying to skew the numbers. However, because most people are terrible at creative writing, some posts just feel wrong. Who, upon visiting a mid-range private hotel for a night, feels the need to gush about how wonderful the quality of the services are if they really are using it as a crash pad for work, for instance.

You will also find posts by people with less mileage on a site are usually viewed with caution as sockpuppet characters are like mayflies, and only pop up to post one 'big up my business' post, then vanish. It is a pain to sign up to a site/forum, so people do not tend to unless they have a reason or agenda to promote, or to stick around and be a natural member of a community.

blossomhill_2

Not restaurants but a fake testimonial ... looked up a website for builder I know, to see if he does the type of work I need ... glowing testimonial saying how professional he was ... and prompt ... well no surprise really, he only had to wander downstairs in his pyjamas, cos the photo of the work is his own house! Written by his partner!

The irony is that he probably doesn't still need it up there as he has several other customers who appear real

mabinogion_2

Paddy you hit the nail on the head and gave me a good giggle at the same time.
thanks!

Idiophreak

I don't see trip advisor as particularly useful for three reasons:
1) People promoting their own stuff
2) People running down competitor's stuff
3) The "no three stars" phenomenon. Face it, most people don't bother writing 3 star reviews. They write 1s and 5s. Hence, all scores are distorted. Much better off looking for reviews by independent sources.

quatrofromageo

A few years back Yellow Pages got into trouble for sockpuppetry. They were using their entire internet department to post positive reviews for their clients, but someone who left the company decided to tell the papers about it.

starrybee

I used to do freelance work, and there was always loads of companies wanting people to create multiple accounts and write positive reviews of their products.

mabinogion_2

Hmm I have certainly penned quite a few three star reviews on tripadvisor. Yes its open to abuse, but as yet I have always found that the general trend of reviews indicate a fair picture, especially if you discount any obviously polarised opinions or reviews by one post wonders. If you check out the reviews on Tripadvisor, read between the lines, then follow up with a few well worded questions on the TA forum, you're sure to get a good idea of what to expect. Never failed me yet:)