For initial clarity, this post is not about spam. That's fairly clear-cut. This is about a fairly uncommon but difficult-to-moderate issue, and it can stick out like a sore thumb when it shows up.
The short version here is that while this forum accepts unsolicited reviews from new accounts as this is a place to provide advice and give recommendations based on your experience, customers with new forum accounts that are providing reviews of a travel business/service should be wary of posting here if that business directed/asked/suggested that you post here in any way. Doing so is potentially a disservice to that business, this forum, and to you. Read on if you want the long version.
For additional clarification, "solicited" reviews are fine. Aka if you're answering a question posed by a member of the community, you're clearly "on topic" (our #1 guideline). We also obviously have sections that literally ask for reviews for hotels, restaurants, and day-tour services. So... what am I referring to?
The issue is when businesses are likely to be orchestrating the generation of positive content for them on our website. Promotion is not permitted on our forum. This applies whether it's a strong push from that business or a casual mention to post here if you had a good time. It's a natural move for many businesses to promote their business in this way. This is not what our forum is for. Why? This is not Yelp or TA. In this forum format, it introduces an ulterior motive if you wouldn't have come here - specifically here in this place on the web - on your own. Understand that the existence and success of this forum is predicated on trust in the advice given here, and that trust is eroded if content here is being procured by someone else - even if that business is great at what they do. There is a point at which a volume of reviews can indicate an ulterior motive beyond which we can't ignore. As such, since we don't actively procure reviews for specific business like Yelp or TA, continued unsolicited reviews for a business can become a detriment to that service in this forum format. Because it looks spammy in this format, it erodes trust in that service, and it erodes trust in this forum.
This is one of the most difficult challenges for our moderators. We want to allow for posts to recommend a good travel service, but moderators are out of reach of the business that has misused this forum. As such, we reserve the right to remove these posts. Naturally, that upsets those who had enjoyed the service they reviewed and took the time to share. This is why this scenario is a disservice to the the business being reviewed, this forum, and the forum member.
While I doubt this post will reach the intended audience, consider this a plea to new account holders to ask yourself why you're here. Are you here to participate how other members use this forum? Are you here to ask for and/or share a variety of travel advice with the community? Or, are you here just to give a review for one service and leave? If the latter might grow into the former, welcome! If not, be advised that moderators may cull a series of one-off posts if they appear to indicate a collective misuse of the forum.
For our community members that notice this sort of issue and report on it, we're not asking for reports for the first time an unsolicited review is posted for a business (unless of course, it's spam), or even the second or third time. One or two may even be because the business asked for it. We won't know. Be aware that business recommended in RS guidebooks are more likely to have legitimate unsolicited reviews posted here as it is natural for our customers to return to post their experience on our website. What moderators are looking for are indications of an ulterior motive on the part of the business being reviewed across multiple one-off posts in a suspect timeframe. Thanks for understanding the nuances here!