I have been a member of TER now for several years and it is by far the best of these types of sites. For the first time I started browsing through the variety of discussion boards other than my local regional board. It would seem that many of the discussions and suggestions on this particular board focus on the issue of review credibility.
So how is this for an idea? Just as we have regional board moderators, we should have a panel of regional "certified" reviewers. It could be a handful - it could be a hundred. While it would not eliminate questionable reviews, any reviews by a "certifed" reviewer would certainly be viewed by the TER membership as more credible than others.
TER would apply a set of subjective criteria to judge a reviewer as 1)authentically a hobbyist based on both the review history and perhaps White listings 2)experienced based on some number of reviews and span of time 3)honest and fair - a history of good, succinctly written reviews - history of fair and balanced reviews
5)respected by providers and fellow hobbyists - sitting panel members (previously certified reviewers and perhaps a select number of providers as well) would need to approve new panel members.
I know that many of us experienced members do our own homework to determine the veracity of a review - e.g. does the reviewer have a history of reviews and/or do they have any pattern of obvious bias? Do the reviews conveniently materialize at the same time a new provider comes on the scene? Does a suspicious review materialize directly following a bad review and does it seem to be defensive? We also tend to browse through the reviews of the experienced hobbyists to scout for new providers simply because that is more productive than browsing through all the new reviews. If I am looking for a certain type, I'll look through the reviews of a fellow hobbyist that favors that type. E.g. there are known hobbyists in our region that favor the Latin ladies, or travelers, or big busted ladies, or BBW's, or GFE's. Damn, there's even a couple of guys that go for the really ghetto types.
I am not suggesting some elitist approach, just some way to recognize and weight the credibility by virtue of the established credibility of the reviewer.
Just my .02. There is probably a more simple means of achieving this, but I think it warrants being tested in Minnesota.
-- Modified on 7/27/2007 7:50:11 PM
-- Modified on 7/27/2007 7:57:36 PM
I wouldn't mind seeing a "Review Critique" Board, where interested parties could critique and discuss reviews in a systematic manner, constructively I hope, with an eye toward helping newer reviewers find their voice and pointing out obvious flaws and inconsistencies in posted reviews. And also top oint out the ones which are really right on the money a examples to follow.
Nothing prevents this from being done on any individual board now, but this would centralize it.
To avoid really hurt feelings, it might be necessary to resort frequenly to the use of aliases.
this is what the NYC board is now.
You are right, as you so ofter are, mrfisher. I consider you one of the most valuable contributors to the various boards here. And funny as hell in th bargain.
Much of it seems to be a concerted effort to flag fradulent reviews and reviewers, a good thing to be sure.
But I never fail to detect the barely disguised sense of one-upsmanship and mean-spiritedness so common to the majority of my terminally over-aggressive fellow NYCers in these posts.
They're doing the right thing, but not necessarily for the right resons.
Still, it's a start.
and believe me, I know them because I was married to one for twenty years. 
Just kidding guys, I love youse, I really, really do.
(It's the Yankees I hate. 8o)
The difference with my suggestion is that we are less likely to end up with just self-appointed ego-maniacs.
but I don't see this as workable by a, presumably, group of unpaid volunteers.
Hell, phony medical research articles have made it past peer reviewers. How are you going to "prove" a review is phony.
When I have written management about a first review posted by a first-time reviewer that read like an advertisement rather than a review, they have pulled it down.
When one gal in Southern California had her first 11 reviews posted by guys whose only review was of her, management ended up pulling most of them down.
The system is not perfect......and do not forget....it's supposed to be fiction anyway....Your Honor.