PSA: Unsolicited guide reviews are subject to removal

Thank you. I'm always a bit leery of first time posters with a rave review of a guide. Ditto a review trashing a hotel. The OP seldom, if ever, comes back to post other comments or experiences.

Thank you. I know this makes more work for you and the tech team, but please know that your efforts are very much appreciated.

Thank you. The less "one-hit wonders" the better.

-- Mike Beebe

LOL, I'm pretty sure you JUST biz-bagged the first those today, and for one of the most-often reviewed by one-and-dones. :O)

You know, if some of these guides are as excellent as reported to be - and some are reported to be excellent by long-time posters I trust - you'd think they'd know better than to shoot themselves in the foot by soliciting reviews. Too many hit-and-run reviews, especially when they sound too similar, aren't great for boosting credibility; can raise suspicion of compensation of some sort. Sort of sad, really?

I died laughing when I opened All Topics a little while ago to find exactly the perfect test case. I clicked on it and got Rick on the floor. I am sure if I had refreshed the page, I wouldn't have seen the offending post at all. Quick and effective !

Yep, that was the one, Kim!

Ok, I’ll bite. My husband posted a “glowing” review of one of our Italy city guides and NO, he was not asked by her to do it. We were so impressed with her that we just thought that maybe someone else might appreciate her knowledge and enthusiasm for her city.

I got Rick on the floor too! And based on the title it was a frequent flier known to many of us. Margie, unless your husband was a one-and-done new forum member, I don't think he would have been subject to this new policy.

margie, I think like any policy, there will be flaws in an absolute rule. Situations like yours could be where the system fails. But as mentioned, it sounds like if he has prior posts, his review wouldn’t fall into this category. Maybe. I also see the difficulty in monitoring the topic for legitimacy. It’s a tough one.

I agree. Margie, the post above (and quote below) clearly explains that this is for posters who do not have a consistent history here.

Accounts with an established history of engaged forum behavior will fall under much less scrutiny as there is far less concern of legitimacy or orchestration from outside the forum.

Applause! Applause!

Texastravelmom, I agree with you. My point is that not all guides solicit reviews. But on the other hand, it’s kind of hard, in my opinion, to look down on them if they ask you to post a review on google, trip advisor or whatever since social media is most probably how they obtain most of their clients. As we’ve seen from the posts on here, not everyone reads RS guidebooks.

But on the other hand, it’s kind of hard, in my opinion, to look down
on them if they ask you to post a review on google, trip advisor or
whatever since social media is most probably how they obtain most of
their clients.

To Margie's point, we understand why guides would ask their clients to post here. They're trained by the existence of other review-based sites plus other social media to encourage clients to post there. As such, it's not that we look down on them. However, they don't understand that this forum's primary Q&A format is different. Their posts stick out like a sore thumb when they use our site in this way. It becomes a disservice to those guides - and the trust in the rest of the forum's content - when we allow posts that appear spammy (even if some may not be spam in the end).

On a related point, the web is going through a bit of a reckoning in terms of what review content is valued and what is not. In the last year+, Google has heavily demerited content from its search rankings that rely heavily on unverified reviews. The review sites that haven't faltered are ones that have verified the purchase and show their own customers' reviews. However, it's different when the format is that of Q&A where a community works together to figure out the best answer(s) for a question. This content has been elevated in search ranks as it is considered to be more verifiably accurate in an era of fake reviews, AI, content farms featuring freelance writers instead of verifiably authoritative experts in their fields, etc. Some of you may have noticed that Reddit appears a lot more in rankings now, and we've seen a bump in our own traffic (but not so much to the Hotel/Restaurant sections we have which is a separate conversation).

Webby, you explained the problem better than I could have:

"As such, it's not that we look down on them. However, they don't understand that this forum's primary Q&A format is different. Their posts stick out like a sore thumb when they use our site in this way. It becomes a disservice to those guides - and the trust in the rest of the forum's content - when we allow posts that appear spammy (even if some may not be spam in the end)."

I understand as well why a guide may ask for a review - no issue there - but yes, it's different if it appears as a one-time shot here from a poster who then disappears down the rabbit hole. As a review here appears as a stand-alone versus another entry in TA's long lists for specific services, hotels, etc. the hit-and-runs are much more visible and not in a good way when there's an overload of those for the same service.

It's different when they're reviewed by members with other contributions to the site and/or provided as good resources in response to questions in the Q&As. I guess "disservice to those guides" is what I meant earlier by it being a bit sad for the good ones that these particular reviews can raise questions about their credibility and, by association, that of the RS site. Hopefully the new moderation practices will be beneficial for both!

I guess I never really took notice of the many recommendations for tour guides before. I now see what’s happening and wish you luck dealing with this.

margie, I am not at all a suspicious person, truly always assuming that everyone's heart and motives are pure, but over the years that I've been a participant on this Forum, I have found myself questioning reviews from first time posters.

I've tended to notice the negative reviews more. It just seems so odd to me that someone who has never been on this board would choose to post an extremely negative review of a hotel, restaurant, tour company, or guide, and then disappear.

I hope our webmaster knows how much we appreciate the tremendous job he and his staff do for us.

Thank you, webmaster!

Thank you.

So, I'm a new subscriber to the forum, which somehow makes me a suspicious person? That seems a sad commentary and must mean the site has been abused.
My wife and I just returned from our Christmas Market '24 stretching from Prague to Regensburg and then down the Danube to Budapest. Our carrier was Viking and it was an incredible journey.
In Budapest, we engaged a local guide who was very helpful.
So, yes, I wanted to come back here and report our experience with them. But I'm not looking to cause trouble or break the site's rules. And although I found them from a recommendation made in this forum, I won't report our experience unless someone is looking to locate a very good and reasonable-cost guide for Budapest.
Treading lightly,
Kevin

Kevin, I think there would be plenty of people who would welcome your information! But speaking for myself, I would want MORE information. It’s the part where someone only says how great a one-day guide was that is unsatisfactory. I love learning new things; so to me, a guide fits into the context of your trip. How long were you gone? Where else did you go? What else did you see? How did you find them? The guide is important, but they fit into a bigger picture. The Trip Report section is a great place to give future travelers more help.

And as a first time poster, no one has any idea about your style of travel. Do you research anything before you go? Just show up? Where else have you been, for comparison? Do you have more to share? Do you prefer tours? Or are you strictly a do-it-yourselfer? Do you travel solo or with a family? Do you often hire guides? Was this your first time to hire a guide?

I don’t think all first-time posters are suspect. We were all a first-timer once. But I am sure you can appreciate the desire to be sure recommendations aren’t coming from a bot or a fake profile. Unfortunately it’s been happening (otherwise there wouldn’t be a need for the new posting rule).

So don’t give up - stick around and add to the collective knowledge! I know when I was planning my first trip, I read literally every thread on the forum about the places I was going, as well as every comment on every thread. That might be overkill, but I learned so much! Trip reports are the gift that keeps on giving, with a good guide report being just part of that.

Thank you, Webmaster!
This forum is special and unique and very much appreciated.

Well said TexasTravelMom. Thank you.

TexasTravelMom I think you hit the nail on the head - no bruised thumbs.

kevin please write a Trip Report, let us know where you have been, what you did, how you did, what you liked and what you didn't, and please mention your hotels and guides. Then it is not a puff piece all about a guide, it is the story of your trip.

You don't need to write war and peace, but learning about you and your travels will be so interesting to all of us.

Welcome aboard - glad to have you.

Welcome to the RS forum, Kevin!
What TexasTravelMom and Nigel said: An expanded trip report that contains more information than just a hit-and-run review on the guide will be just fine. Specifically, telling us more about that Viking cruise would be great as I'm sure you'll have some valuable insights for our cruise fans. You probably have answers to some questions people may have about the Christmas Markets and/or the cities you visited too so keep an eye on the Hungary and Czech Republic forums?