How To Spot A Fake Online Review

This is from AP News. The article uses hotels as an example, but much of it works for trucking companies, too. I've bolded some parts that describe trucking reviews, and to shorten this skipped some parts.

Do you trust online reviews? Now that Amazon is suing more than 1,000 people who allegedly offered to write glowing product reviews for cash, you might reasonably be concerned.

Turns out, deceptive reviews are commonplace online - and so are doubts about them. The research organization Mintel found that 57 percent of surveyed consumers are suspicious of companies or products that only have positive online reviews. And 49 percent believe companies probably give incentives for online reviews.

Fortunately, there are a few good techniques that can help you tell truth from fiction.

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DON'T TRUST YOURSELF

A team of researchers at Cornell University created a computer algorithm for detecting fake hotel reviews by analyzing the language used in legitimate and phony write-ups. The computer program, Review Skeptic, is accurate about 90 percent of the time, but humans alone performed poorly at determining the truth teller.

"People are terrible," said professor Claire Cardie, who helped develop the system. "I was very surprised. We just cannot tell the difference much more than chance."

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LISTEN TO THE LANGUAGE

Beware of extremes - overly enthusiastic or negative reviews are red flags. False reviews tend to use more extreme language to get their message across. So if someone says "It is the most comfortable bed ever," perhaps in all caps, take pause.

Additionally, the Cornell researchers found that when it comes to hotels, fake reviewers tended not to talk about the spatial details - such as the floor or bathroom. Instead, they focused on the reason they were there, such as describing a recent (fake) vacation or business trip. In practice, this makes sense because someone who has never been to a location might have a tough time describing it accurately.

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JUNK THE JARGON

... If they use excessive technical or marketing jargon, odds are they aren't providing a genuine review - most real people don't talk like that.

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REVIEW THE REVIEWER

Check out the profile of the person providing the review, said Louis Ramirez, senior features writer with online deal site DealNews. ...

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PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL

If you think about your own experiences with an unpleasant experience or product, you can probably explain exactly why it was bad. Ramirez suggests if you're unsure about a review, put more stock in someone who provides details of why they didn't like a product ("Oh, the battery only lasted four hours") that in someone who complains more generally ("I hated this laptop. It was horrible").

"People are terrible," said professor Claire Cardie, who helped develop the system. "I was very surprised. We just cannot tell the difference much more than chance."

See? That's exactly what I've been saying. People will sometimes suggest, mostly for their own entertainment purposes, that we should let anyone say anything they like and then let everyone sort it out for themselves. My argument all along is exactly what this study has found - people are better at lying than you might think. That's why there's no company bashing or school bashing allowed. You can't reliably tell who is lying or who is being honest.

As for deciding if a (usually negative) review is "bogus", look for judgement by the writer.

This company is terribly mismanaged. Drivers were quitting left and right.

The instructors were teaching us wrong. I know I'd be stopped by a cop if I drove that way.

90% of these judgement calls are by people who aren't really knowledgeable about these things, and see things that are not going their way.

"People are terrible," said professor Claire Cardie, who helped develop the system. "I was very surprised. We just cannot tell the difference much more than chance."

See? That's exactly what I've been saying. "Indy" and a few others, mostly for their own entertainment purposes, have been trying to persuade us to let anyone say anything they like and then let everyone sort it out for themselves. My argument all along is exactly what this study has found - people are better at lying than you might think. That's why there's no company bashing or school bashing allowed. You can't reliably tell who is lying or who is being honest.

Wow this is a thought provoking thread.

Errol and Brett- really glad for your input. I wrote a long response but decided not to post it.

In talking to other men- I find men who either support cheating in sports, or are too cowardly to speak out against it. I'm specifically writing about MLB baseball players that used drugs.

I love those reviews from the wives where there is nothing but a garbled mess of over emotional vitriol. Nasty stuff when its followed by some poor sap who has taken it to heart.

I always figured their husband got himself **** canned and then made up all this garbage to blame the company so she wouldnt know they just blew six grand on his incompetence. Hook, line and sinker honey!

There are some doozies on yelp, I like this page about national park reviews. http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/08/i-cant-stop-reading-these-one-star-yelp-reviews-national-parks

phil