Fake Reviews?

[Jeff_Brauer]

Saw a bit on the AM news today, that many think there are a high proportion of paid, positive reviews of products sold on Amazon.


I checked Golf Trip Advisors and a few other sites recently, and noticed overwhelmingly positive reviews for nearly every public course on those sites.  I mean, nearly everyone of my courses is 4.5-5 stars (and of course, well deserved ) but they shouldn't be that consistent, especially since human nature is to complain about what you don't like.


Are public golf reviews worth the internet space they take up, or are they fake?  Anyone have any specifics?

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Jeff,


I know of at least one daily fee course in the Philadelphia area that had their " regulars" write glowing reviews on www.golfadvisor.com.


Perhaps Brad Klein can help us out since he's now joined that site.

[Tim_Cronin]

In the newspaper business, the ratio of complaint letters, e-mails and calls is about 25-1 in favor of the complainers. I can't imagine why it's the other way in review world unless someone's thumb is on the scale.

[Kalen Braley]

Jeff,


This is business as usual on every site imaginable.  Ebay, Google, Yelp, Car Forums, etc...its hard to know whats reliable these days when seeking out goods and services from unknown providers.


Sometimes you just gotta throw caution to the wind and go for it! 

[Jake Marvin]

Are public golf reviews worth the internet space they take up, or are they fake?  Anyone have any specifics?

They aren't worth the space, unless you're the average Golf Advisor reader and favor cart-golf and green carpet fairways. Not to make a moral statement about those people, but most of us don't seem to see the worth in that.


As far as "fake reviews" go, I've found that those sites are generally 5-star reviews with the occasional 1-star from some clown who got confronted about pace of play or got told off by the beverage cart lady. Make of that what you will.

[SB]

Jake is spot on.  Although we should, we don't ask people to give reviews but we still get lots of positive reviews.  Most of the negative ones are from people with an axe to grind, like the guys that were driving on the collar after being warned twice not to, as it was cart path only.  So our superintendent turned the sprinklers on them and they promptly gave us a one star rating for "being treated rudely".  We also get one star ratings for being "wet" right after it rains, or one guy who complained that "all of our grass was dead" because it was all dormant bermuda in the middle of winter.  I've learned to listen to people who give us three stars.  That means we did most things right but screwed something up fairly seriously. 

[Mike_Young]

Golf Advisor is tied to Golf Now...if you don't do Golf Now it can be a problem....their ranking this year proved the point...

[Mark Kiely]

I've been posting and reviewing course conditions on Greenskeeper.org for many years and I believe it's by far the most legitimate golf course review site.

[Jon Wiggett]

Jeff,


generally I do not bother with tripadvisor as there are too many friends of the business owner bigging it up and haters putting in bad reviews.


I find reviews tend to be more reliable when people have to post under their real name as apposed to some made up tag. I wonder how long it will be until the anonymity on the web becomes a thing of the past?


Jon

[Kyle Harris]

Um. Duh.

Jeff,


generally I do not bother with tripadvisor as there are too many friends of the business owner bigging it up and haters putting in bad reviews.


I find reviews tend to be more reliable when people have to post under their real name as apposed to some made up tag. I wonder how long it will be until the anonymity on the web becomes a thing of the past?


Jon

Jon,


To a point it already is, unless your "brand" is particularly strong in whatever sector of the Internet you dwell. Most people know I'm SirPuttsalot around my golf circles or can figure it out rather quickly. No use in hiding these days.

[Jon Wiggett]

Ah, of course it is Kyle. So why the AKA I wonder. Not everybody is as tech savvy as you and is able to uncover the true identities behind the pseudonyms Kyle. There are some Russians out there that I am sure the US intelligent agencies would love to have you uncover their real identities

[Carl Rogers]

Example:  What kind of review would a Muni like Aiken receive? 


Played it once on the way to Streamsong and thought it was the quintessential great example of what a modest Muni should be.

[Phil Carlucci]

I've been surprised by the volume of reviews that some courses get in relation to others, but I assume that's because they offer tee times through GolfNow and typically also send branded e-mail/social media blasts prompting people to leave feedback.  None of the reviews I've seen have ever struck me as fake though. 

[Kyle Harris]

Ah, of course it is Kyle. So why the AKA I wonder. Not everybody is as tech savvy as you and is able to uncover the true identities behind the pseudonyms Kyle. There are some Russians out there that I am sure the US intelligent agencies would love to have you uncover their real identities

I suppose I am an interesting subset of the population since I got into this sort of thing when pseudonyms were de rigeur of the old Web 1.0.


Among this "generation" though, there was a push back ten or so years ago to acquire our actual names before someone else did! That's why I need to use my middle initial for my webpage URL, someone beat me to my name without it.

[Sean_A]

Um. Duh.

Jeff,

generally I do not bother with tripadvisor as there are too many friends of the business owner bigging it up and haters putting in bad reviews.

I find reviews tend to be more reliable when people have to post under their real name as apposed to some made up tag. I wonder how long it will be until the anonymity on the web becomes a thing of the past?

Jon

Jon,

To a point it already is, unless your "brand" is particularly strong in whatever sector of the Internet you dwell. Most people know I'm SirPuttsalot around my golf circles or can figure it out rather quickly. No use in hiding these days.

I didn't know you were SirPuttsalot, but then I don't bother trying to figure out who is who because it doesn't matter to me.  If your persona is consistent, why should I care who the person is?  I especially wouldn't care on a site like Golf Advisor...who goes to a site like that for real info on courses?

Ciao

[John Kavanaugh]

I felt a bit of sadness this last week when Sirputtsalot's friend Sarge lost his namesake.

[Jon Wiggett]

Um. Duh.

Jeff,

generally I do not bother with tripadvisor as there are too many friends of the business owner bigging it up and haters putting in bad reviews.

I find reviews tend to be more reliable when people have to post under their real name as apposed to some made up tag. I wonder how long it will be until the anonymity on the web becomes a thing of the past?

Jon

Jon,

To a point it already is, unless your "brand" is particularly strong in whatever sector of the Internet you dwell. Most people know I'm SirPuttsalot around my golf circles or can figure it out rather quickly. No use in hiding these days.

I didn't know you were SirPuttsalot, but then I don't bother trying to figure out who is who because it doesn't matter to me.  If your persona is consistent, why should I care who the person is?  I especially wouldn't care on a site like Golf Advisor...who goes to a site like that for real info on courses?

Ciao

Sean,


I wonder if you would have the same opinion if there was a concerted effort of negative posts by a group of posters using false identities that you knew were having a significant detrimental effect on your business?


I have seen first hand such an effect on a family friend's business and it almost ruined her. At the same time her son was been bullied by the same group though under other pseudonyms making his life an absolute misery not just for the 18 month of their odious campaign but it still effects him today 3 years on. It only stopped when one of the group's identity was discovered by accident and the names of all the group came out. The point is they would never have done any of their nasty deeds had they not been able to hide behind a screen of anonymity. You maybe happy with such a state of affairs, I am not. I firmly believe that at some point we as a society are going to have to address the whole 'lawless state' that is the internet.


Jon

[Kyle Harris]

I felt a bit of sadness this last week when Sirputtsalot's friend Sarge lost his namesake.

I am now sad, too. It took me ten years to finally ask how he acquired the sobriquet.

[Jim Nugent]

In the newspaper business, the ratio of complaint letters, e-mails and calls is about 25-1 in favor of the complainers. I can't imagine why it's the other way in review world unless someone's thumb is on the scale.

While I'm sure plenty of course reviews are fake, it also wouldn't surprise me if golf has a higher positive rating these days than newspapers or media overall for that matter.