Site Reviewer Ethics

[tombarr]

Should site reviewers be required or expected to recuse themselves from doing a review of a site if they are asked to review a site for which they have a personal bias against due to friendships or competitive relationships with other people or websites?

I would think in the interest of objective and honest / unbiased porn reviews they should because otherwise it taints not only the review, making it a personal weapon, but also the reviewers reputation if their relationships causing such bias come to light.

Just a hypothetical question. Your feelings?

[DEVELISH]

Tom,

when Patti or Bec do reviews they most likely know the owner of the site already, be it from meetings, gatherings or fair, forums, phonecalls, professsional buisiness relations etc. If they would reject those sites for a review they would loose money and customers likewise.

IMHO a reviewer should always be frank and true when writing a review and not overstate nor understate cuz they like or dislike somebody. A shitty site is still shitty even if they receive raving reviews. For me I'd LOVE a really shitty, fucked up review in all of the review sites of cutejeremiah.com - it gets me exposure - I'd also love a mediocre and a raving good one.... Traffic is traffic and it will convert.

Like I wrote: the reviewer should do the job and leave personal relationships of whatever kind behind.

DEVELISH

[tombarr]

I totally agree. A bad review that is warranted is just that and as long as it's honest, it's fine with me.

I fully understand the business side of the review / site equation with respect to the paying clients of the reviewer and what kind of review they want and certainly understand the right of the site reviewers to have clients, even those that are friends and associates.

What I don't think is right is a site reviewer having a personal bias against a site BEFORE they even begin the review and then use that review to advance their personal agenda. I think site reviewers should be honest.
And that includes being honest enough to recuse themselves from doing a review of a site for which they may not have an honestly objective perspective going into the review.

Once again, I'm not pointing fingers at anyone. This is just a hypothetical question about ethics.

Tom,

when Patti or Bec do reviews they most likely know the owner of the site already, be it from meetings, gatherings or fair, forums, phonecalls, professsional buisiness relations etc. If they would reject those sites for a review they would loose money and customers likewise.

IMHO a reviewer should always be frank and true when writing a review and not overstate nor understate cuz they like or dislike somebody. A shitty site is still shitty even if they receive raving reviews. For me I'd LOVE a really shitty, fucked up review in all of the review sites of cutejeremiah.com - it gets me exposure - I'd also love a mediocre and a raving good one.... Traffic is traffic and it will convert.

Like I wrote: the reviewer should do the job and leave personal relationships of whatever kind behind.

DEVELISH

[Chilihost]

most affiliate programs have terms that specifically prohibit negative publicity, including negative reviews. If you are reviewing a site with a personal bias against it for whatever reason, don't risk it, just get someone else to do the review.

[Lee]

IMHO if a reviewer isnt able to give an 'honest' review because they have a grievance with a site owner, its time to start looking for a new reviewer.

Hypothetically, the site owner could beleive that YOU wrote the review and stop doing business with you because of the actions of your reviewer.

Regards,

Lee

[basschick]

i agree completely!

IMHO if a reviewer isnt able to give an 'honest' review because they have a grievance with a site owner, its time to start looking for a new reviewer.

[Bec]

I understand your overall sentiment about someone having the ethical standards to withdraw themselves from writing certain reviews, unfortunately not everyone measures up to those personal standards.

If I KNOW I am unable to write a review - whether it's for personal reasons, or professional conflicts of interest, I usually ask the person who assigned me the review to give it over to someone else. Not all reviewers will do that unfortunately.

If you feel you were given an unjust review, I'd try contacting the site owner and discussing the situtation with them, and possibly offer to pay for a non-involved 3rd party to do a new review for them.

Just my 2cents