When is a review not an opinion?

Just had the weirdest email from dooyoo HQ. Apparently it is not clear enough that one of my recent reviews is in fact my opinion. And I have to go through it and put "in my opinion" at the start of every sentence or paragraph, or something to that effect.

Does this make sense to anyone else?

Because to take it to its logical conclusion nearly every sentence published on dooyoo would have to be modified in this way:

"in my opinion the film was boring"
"in my opinion the film was extremely interesting"
"in my opinion the room was too hot"
"in my opinion the waiter was rude"
"in my opinion the waiter was friendly and courteous"

Where would it end??

You are kidding right! I bloody hate the reviews that feel the need to actually right "My Opinion" in the title. The idea of doing throughout the review!

carcraig wrote:

Quite.

I think it is a given that my review is my opinion.

But apparantly a statement such as "the waiter was rude" is no longer allowed unless one specifically says that it is one's opinion ... and additionally it needs to be provable. How many reviews provide proof?

Bluebloodedscouser wrote:

You are kidding right! I bloody hate the reviews that feel the need to actually right "My Opinion" in the title. The idea of doing throughout the review!

No I am not kidding.

Can someone query this on the guide group, that is horrendous.

I can see grounds for challenging reviews that might be libellous - for example on trivago we get a lot of 'The owner is a lying cheating bastard' and I always reject them and tell the submitter they need to give evidence to support that opinion to avoid risk of the site being libel for an attack from the owner.

But 'in my opinion' saying 'it's my opinion that it's a dumbass suggestion' is a step too far.

Cat, is it the opinion on the LA hotel or another one?

koshkha wrote:

I can see grounds for challenging reviews that might be libellous - for example on trivago we get a lot of 'The owner is a lying cheating bastard' and I always reject them and tell the submitter they need to give evidence to support that opinion to avoid risk of the site being libel for an attack from the owner.

But 'in my opinion' saying 'it's my opinion that it's a dumbass suggestion' is a step too far.

Of course it is only libellous if it is untrue, if he is a lying cheating bastard then it should be ok.

Seriously though, I know what you mean and I agree there is no place for comments like that. I would never write anything like that, the examples I gave in my first post are truly more representative of what I am referring to.

Cat19 wrote:

carcraig wrote:

Quite.

I think it is a given that my review is my opinion.

But apparantly a statement such as "the waiter was rude" is no longer allowed unless one specifically says that it is one's opinion ... and additionally it needs to be provable. How many reviews provide proof?

Is that the sound of backs being covered at Dooyoo HQ I hear? I suspect with the economic downturn some (in my opinion!) unscrupulous people are looking to take legal action for what they see as libellous statements and Dooyoo are running a little scared in the face of such actions and over-reacting. And in the example given, how exactly would the restaurant be able to sue? Unless they can clearly identify you from your review (unlikely) how would they know which waiter you were talking about? Or is the implication that businesses can now threaten to sue for any negative comments made in reviews?

I actually had direct experience of this a couple of years ago. Dooyoo contacted me to say that had received a complaint via email from someone connected with a company I had written a negative review about. Dooyoo said I could either leave the review up as was, or remove/amend it. They blathered on about the right of members to express their opinion and how they upheld this, whilst at the same time making perfectly clear that if I left the review unchanged or didn't revise it sufficiently, I would be on my own if the firm decided to take legal action

As it happens, I could have proved pretty much all of the statements in my review - I had copies of all letter and email exchanges, photographic evidence of the items in question. However, I decided to voluntarily withdraw the review because I didn't want the hassle.

What a shame Dooyoo seems to be bowing to this sort of pressure. If this is carried through, the site will end up like Have I Got News for You where every statement ends with ...alledgedly.

A few years ago, I believe that it was Ciao.fr who sold one of their members down the river and gave contact details to a disgrunted company who took her to court and got her for damages. I heard about it second hand but I believe there was quite a fall-out from it.

Maybe the hotel manager that I described as a cockroach a couple of years ago will be trying to hunt me down.

To change tack and answer the question in the title, a review is not an opinion when it contains no analysis, judgement or experience - like those mobile phone reviews that are just copies of the manual.

Oh deary me, this all sounds rather poor, to be honest. Isn't it a given that everything you post is your point of view?

it does sound like inappropriate pressure being put upon by someone who thinks they have power....


I must say Ihad the opposite experience a few years ago....dooyoo were happy to reinstate a review of mine as long as I said I would defend my statements in court...which I said I was, and it was reinstated in its entirety. I see no reason for a change in heart there.

I am happy to take forward on the guide forum however if you pm me the details...we cannot have corporations bullying individuals, and I for one do not want to see every statement being backed up in a ridiculous manner which is not conducive to solid review writing.

It's raised

I was just about to add a review of a shopping centre and saw the message below which I've not previously noticed - perhaps it's new or maybe I've just not added something that sparked it up before. Still I thought forum members might be interested:

"If you were unhappy with the service you received, it's only fair that the shop management know what went wrong with your order and be given a chance to correct it. We encourage you to enter your order number or customer number in the review so that the shop has the opportunity to contact you and resolve any outstanding issues.

Critique of the service you received is important in a review, however please stick to the truthful facts of the case and do not make any claims that cannot be supported by the facts. Otherwise, you may breach the dooyoo Terms and Conditions, which can lead to the deletion of your review.

Please remember too, that shops have the right to complain if they believe the claims made in your review are inaccurate. It is therefore prudent to archive any emails or other records you have that verify the facts as you state them in your review, in the case that the shop wishes to make a legal complaint."

Where did you see that, Koshkha?

My attempts to discretely avoid publicising the review I just added were too obtuse I fear.....

I've just added a review of a large outlet centre in the North West. When I clicked on 'write review' this came up at the top of the page above the box where you enter your text.

I just clicked on 'write review' for three random stores in the shopping section and they all have this box.

I checked restaurants and hotels (since these are the businesses I most often slag off) but they aren't affected.

It will certainly be good to hear back from dooyoo towers on all this.

This doesn't sit right with me at all, if I'm being perfectly honest.

If something is awry in a review, isn't it up to the accuser to prove that the review is incorrect rather than the other way around?

The fact this is a wording issue strikes me that this is simply trouble-making and nothing more. I dread to think that others will look at this and start reporting this kind of guff.

I see it now......

Are you going to ask the PTB about it, Koshkha?

carcraig wrote:

I see it now......

Are you going to ask the PTB about it, Koshkha?

PTB????? Sorry no idea what that is.

Powers That Be (sorry!)

Perhaps one of the guides could bring this up in conversations they are already having, it seems loosely linked to the email that I had yesterday.