One of our users just posted regarding a negative post that's been removed and I wanted to respond.
The jist of the comment was that we'd taken down a post because it was negative about an advertiser and that the only reason we'd done so was because they were a client.
So let me explain what we've done and why...
1. whenever a member is new or hasn't posted much (eg more than five posts) but does post strong negative criticism of a company we ALWAYS delete that post.
It's not that we are trying to protect anyone or anything, but it is EXTREMELY common for competitors of a business to join and post "false" negative reviews. It is a *daily* occurrence.
This deletion is totally unrelated as to whether the firm in question is a sponsor or not.
For the post in question, the user had only posted once before, in those circumstances we need to know if they're a real user.
For the avoidance of doubt, if a regular user posts something negative that doesn't come down. Its only new users.
The integrity of this website is based upon people being honest and false negative reviews are as damaging as false positive ones.
We also do the same for false positive reviews. I reckon I delete about five or ten a *day*.
2. we then email the person involved and ask to talk to them. I emailed the user yesterday the INSTANT I deleted the post. I explained that we needed to talk and why. I actually have a standard bit of text that I cut and paste into the email as I do this so often
3. we have NEVER removed negative comments for ad dollars. Never have and never will. We have lost many many ad campaigns as a result of this.
4. we then discuss the complaint with the poster and try to work out how genuine it is. Around 80% of all false negative review writers will not speak to us on the phone (they're obviously false) and the remaining 20% are real and after explaining the process and the laws of libel we then leave it up to the poster to decide if they want to continue.
Hope that explains it.
Thanks for using NVN!
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