Marketplace reviews and comments are now anonymous. Thoughts?

[Lucia Nightfire]

Marketplace reviews and comments are now anonymous.

Even the store owner will not see who posted them.

The only time the store owner will see who has made a review is via email.

Thoughts?

[Ayeleeon]

Why?

[Reese Wicken]

I second Ayeleeon's why.

[Rowan Amore]

Why not?  I leave reviews on Amazon without having to.submit my full name.  Merchants can report a bad review or relist an item with bad reviews (isn't that against the rules?) They can also ban a resident for giving a bad review.  Perhaps this is meant to give the consumer a bit more privacy when giving a less.than stellar review?

[Bree Giffen]

Maybe they wanted more reviews for products that are embarrassing to review? Maybe it's just unimportant to know who is reviewing the product. I don't care who is reviewing something on Amazon. It's the content of the review that I look at.

[Eddy Vortex]

Why they want to do that? Some people think the reviews section is an avenue of contacting the store owner for product support and will use that instead of notecards or IMs.  A store owner would have to wade through mountains of sales notifications, off-line IMs, and group notices on the off-chance of catching a complaint a customer might have made via a MP review.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Eddy Vortex

[PixelBerry]

Eh I think this change got both good and bad things about it, there are people who leave reviews just to be a D*** towards the creator, being anonymous that way kind of sucks for the creator.

But also in that way I will be more likely to leave reviews, honest reviews. I often do not because I'm afraid of hurting anyone's feelings if I got something "negative" to say, aka constructive criticism, some creators if not most can't even handle that. 

[Dragon Mommy]

I've been harassed by a creator for leaving a review they didn't agree with. It was a 3 star review due to issues with the script they refused to resolve. I imagine that might be why that sort of change might happen. 

[Lucia Nightfire]

The store owner still gets an email when a review is made telling them who made the review with its url.

One thing I frown on is, sometimes people contact a reviewer asking if they can see the product if no demo is available as well as ask if they experienced a certain bug/problem if they did buy the product beforehand if no dedicated store/support group exists.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Lucia Nightfire

[Claireschen Hesten]

Way back in the days of Xstreet you could just leave a star rating and no review which was anonymous. Not sure i am too keen on names being removed from reviews, i have had the odd person contact me because of something i put in a review such as i made a minor modification and they want to know how to do the same. Would anonymous review make me more likely to leave a review? no, though it would make me feel less bad about having to do a poor review

[Echelon Alcott]

Abusive creators will be unable to harass people who leave honest poor reviews. However, responsible creators will be unable to contact customers to rectify issues mentioned in reviews.

Any mechanism available to prevent abusive individuals from leaving dishonest/unfair reviews?

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 hours ago, Lucia Nightfire said:

he store owner still gets an email when a review is made telling them who made the review with its url.

I'm confused. So the merchant does find out who made the review? But consumers on MP don't?

If so, that seems to me the worst of both worlds: a vindictive merchant can still retaliate for a review they don't like, but the reviews lose public credibility by not being attached to a name.

[Lucia Nightfire]

2 hours ago, Echelon Alcott said:

Abusive creators will be unable to harass people who leave honest poor reviews. However, responsible creators will be unable to contact customers to rectify issues mentioned in reviews.

The store owner still gets an email when a review is made telling them who made the review with its url.

1 hour ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I'm confused. So the merchant does find out who made the review? But consumers on MP don't?

If so, that seems to me the worst of both worlds: a vindictive merchant can still retaliate for a review they don't like, but the reviews lose public credibility by not being attached to a name.

The store owner still gets an email when a review is made telling them who made the review with its url.

The reviews and comments on any listing page no longer show the names of the posters to anyone.

I assume logged in Lindens can still see who made the reviews/comments.

[Marianne Little]

He he. Maybe it is so the prim and proper Marianne 👼 dares to leave a review on the Spank spank spank me 1000 animations Naughty bondage bed when she is anonymous now? 😆 🤣

 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

11 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

He he. Maybe it is so the prim and proper Marianne 👼 dares to leave a review on the Spank spank spank me 1000 animations Naughty bondage bed when she is anonymous now? 😆 🤣

 

Yeah. Or maybe the merchant now gets to leave an anonymous positive review about how wonderful said bed is (and how much naughty Marianne would really enjoy it).

18 minutes ago, Lucia Nightfire said:

The store owner still gets an email when a review is made telling them who made the review with its url.

The reviews and comments on any listing page no longer show the names of the posters to anyone.

I assume logged in Lindens can still see who made the reviews/comments.

Um, as you've literally done nothing but repeat verbatim the language that I found ambiguous in the first place (in fact, twice! for good measure!), this hardly clarifies things. But thank you?

I'm going to assume that my first read on this was accurate: consumers can't see who posted, but merchants will have names that will allow them to retaliate if they wish.

Meanwhile, anyone -- including the merchants themselves -- can leave anonymous comments, and there will no longer be any way for shoppers to judge their validity on the basis of the identity of the poster.

If so, this is not merely pointless: it's stupid, and makes the system even more vulnerable to gaming than it already was.

[Mollymews]

20 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

If so, this is not merely pointless: it's stupid, and makes the system even more vulnerable to gaming than it already was.

agree

[Unwashed Bohemian]

So they take away accountability with anonymous reviews. What could possibly go wrong?

[Peter Stindberg]

This is the email you get (emphasis mine):

 

Quote

Dear Peter Stindberg,

The following review activity has occurred on xxx, seen here yyyyyyyy:
  A new review has been added by SomeSLResident. View it here zzzzzzz

Thank you for using the Second Life Marketplace

This is a service email related to your use of the Second Life Marketplace. In accordance with our Privacy Policy, you may periodically receive service emails even if you have elected not to receive direct marketing emails. To learn more about Linden Lab’s use of personal information, please read our Privacy Policy (http://www.lindenlab.com/privacy).

Receiving too many emails? Click here to change your settings: http://marketplace.secondlife.com/account/notification_settings

Copyright 2021 Linden Research, Inc. Linden Lab 945 Battery St. San Francisco, CA 94111

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by Peter Stindberg

[Peter Stindberg]

Though tbh, I (as a merchant who gets many reviews) fear that the name in the email is merely an oversight on behalf of the devs, and will go away sooner or later.

[Rina Rinkitink]

What Scylla said. I mean, I'd get it if the reviews were anonymous to the seller, so the seller couldn't retaliate against a bad review, I at least understand the logic of that even if it could be done better. But hiding the names from other shoppers, while still giving it to the seller? The Linden who thought this up did not think their brilliant plan through.

[Marianne Little]

10 minutes ago, Peter Stindberg said:

Though tbh, I (as a merchant who gets many reviews) fear that the name in the email is merely an oversight on behalf of the devs, and will go away sooner or later.

How about an alt named SomeSLResident just for fun? 😜

Ignore me, I haven't had breakfast yet.

[Marianne Little]

How about... be anonymous when we leave "Likes" here on posts! ☠️

[Paul Hexem]

2 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I'm confused. So the merchant does find out who made the review? But consumers on MP don't?

If so, that seems to me the worst of both worlds: a vindictive merchant can still retaliate for a review they don't like, but the reviews lose public credibility by not being attached to a name.

I have to agree with this sentiment. This doesn't solve any of the problems something like this should have solved, and creates new uncertainty in reviews you do read- now it could be filled with the creator's bots and we'd never know.

[Aisliz]

Hello! Good moning!! sure, but each siituaion can be considered? 

Edited November 9, 2021 by Aisliz

[Anna Nova]

I assume all 5-positive reviews are paid-for by the seller, and all negative ones (1* and 2*) caused by the buyer being a <?> and not checking the demo (or buying ANYTHING without a demo).  It's worse in an unregulated market like SL, or in a merchant-first informant-led market like MakeBezosRicherLand (aka Amazon).
So I couldn't care if they have names on or not.
I still read them, but just for fun...