I can't speak to the issue of non responsiveness since discussion board moderators are not involved in the review process at TER. However, I can tell you that if a provider is banned or a review is removed Staff does research the issue. I have seen the process in action.

thirsty

Speaking FOR TER

My name is David and I am in charge of TER.  I realize that delisting a provider can have a serious negative effect on a provider finances.  A provider is only delisted by their own request, review fraud, or if they are no longer able to provide. We take delisting a provider so seriously, that if an employee does this without my approval, it is grounds for termination.

TER is respected around the world as an accurate source of information on providers.
Hundreds of thousands of hobbyist have contributed their experiences to make TER what it is today.  A huge amount of effort is spent on our part to insure the integrity of our database by remove fake reviews before they are published.  With the help of our membership and providers, ones that slip through are many times reported and removed. As a team we all benefit.

There is no way to say it nicely.  Sometimes providers try to cheat the system.  On the surface it seems easy enough to just create a username and submit a review. It’s only one.  No one will know. No harm done.

Wrong.  We have ZERO tolerance for fake reviews and anyone who writes them.  Anyone caught writing a fake review is banished from the site forever.  If this is a provider then their profile is delisted in addition to banishment of their user account.

You have to wonder sometime how we can tell if a review is written by a provider or a provider is somehow involved in review fraud.  We have built many tools built into TER allowing us to track this. Each and every review submitted to TER is read by a human being.  In the case of review fraud, if this operator believes the review is submitted by the provider or a provider is somehow involved in review fraud, the review is escalated to his supervisor. The supervisor rechecks the operators work and decide whether or not fraudulent activity occurred/  If he believes that the provider was involved in review fraud he will forward the case to me.  I, once again, recheck the work to make sure the provider is guilty.  If so, I delist the provider.

Usually the provider contacts TER within 24 hours.  They are allowed to plea their case.  If they can explain the activity we see on the logs, we reinstate them.

Here is a great example: MysterousO. (the writer of the message claiming

If we look at the IP log for MysterousO you may notice some interesting things.

Date        IP Comment
10/20/2005 5:28 67.123.61.234 MysterousO logged in successfully
9/27/2005 23:26 67.123.61.234 d-- attempted login - Banned
9/23/2005 21:17 67.123.61.234 Ms Olivia logged in successfully
9/23/2005 21:17 67.123.61.234 rate-an-escort Logged in as ms olivia
9/23/2005 21:16 67.123.61.234 rate-an-escort-- attempted login - Banned
9/23/2005 21:15 67.123.61.234 rate-an-escort-- attempted login - Banned
9/23/2005 21:13 67.123.61.234 RedNeckGentleman Logged in as rate-an-escort
9/23/2005 21:02 67.123.61.234 RedNeckGentleman-- attempted login - Banned

First of all we can see that MysterousO is using the same IP address as RedNeckGentleman, rate-an-escort and Ms Olivia.  After a little checking we can find that RedNeckGentleman has logged in only one time (from the same computer as the provider) and has a review on Olivia. If you read our Guidelines to submitting reviews: http://theeroticreview.com/reviews/submitReview.asp

Item 11 clearly states:

Reviews cannot be submitted by the provider (self review) or submitted by anyone directly related to the provider (husband, brother, roommate, other provider, etc). Review cannot be submitted from the provider's computer.  The profile will be delisted if caught.

I did a little more checking and found any IP addresses that rate-an-escort had used.  On one of them I found that rate-an-escort used to be rate-a-escort.

Date IP Comment
8/7/2005 6:23 68.66.12.183 rate-an-escort logged in successfully
8/7/2005 6:23 68.66.12.183 Attempted login as rate-an-escort PW=2442sally- Failed
8/7/2005 6:00 68.66.12.183 Attempted login as Rate-A-Escort PW=2442sally- Failed
7/30/2005 19:16 68.66.12.183 Rate-A-Escort logged in successfully

When I check rate-a-escort profile I notice that he also has reviewed Olivia. A little more research revealed that rate-an-escort owned a tiny escort mall/review site with guess who on the main page.  Olivia.

In this situation, I can feel pretty comfortable in delisted the provider and banning the user accounts involved.

Like thirsty, I have had the occasion to see the process in action. Twice over the course of the last month, in fact - one involving the delisting and subsequent reinstatement of a provider, and one involving the removal of a false review from a provider's profile.

In both cases, Staff did research the issues involved thoroughly, and acted both reasonably and appropriately.

In this case, I think that Staff's post above says it all.

Speaking for Karma...

you should learn more about computers Ms.(not so)MysterousO!  Bet you never knew your IP address could be traced LOL.

PS-Next time try spell check.

kc

-- Modified on 10/30/2005 11:02:20 AM