TER used to take a hard line on fake reviews, or at least I thought. What has changed ?
in this policy. If a review is reported as fake and there’s conclusive evidence that it’s fake, TER removes it. At least that’s been my experience. Of course, TER is run by people and people can make an occasional mistake.
The key is the evidence. Just someone saying “It’s fake!” won’t cut it.
I've called BS on guys writing low-effort posts on long-departed providers; crickets. I ordinarily wouldn't give a damn about somebody's penny-ante scam for free VIP access .. I've long gotten over the "free rider problem" ..
but the last couple of reviews I submitted (brand new providers, BTW), they blocked them as their cheap-ass orgs didn't buy them their own ad.
But there has been a management change about 3 years or so back. The new management does seem to run the site a bit differently.
I"m not sure how anyone really knows some review is fake as opposed to thinking it is fake for certain reasons. The person submitting the review, and perhaps the provider but even here it's not certain for them in all cases, will know for a fact. That leaves TER with a rules of, and standards of, evidence problem.
Anyone using a review site for information has the problem of GIGO they need to figure out how to deal with on their own. A lot of people here will say never trust any review but look at overall patterns both of the the reviewed provider and the individual reviewers that submit those reviews. It is a bit more work than just looking at the scores but will improve one's average success in finding good experiences.