Report bogus posters here!

[gospelle]

I've been doing a bit of research into port excursions and so forth and I've come to suspect that many of the "these guys are great" posts are likely from the tour operators themselves in an effort to drum up some business.

 

For example, I noticed a post on how fantastic wet-n-wild cave tubing company was, and then looked at the post history of that person and noticed that they had a series of posts with other individuals about a upcoming cruise for a total of about 6 or 7 posts. Followed by about 150 posts about how great the cave tubing was.

 

Now call me a sceptic, but it would seem to me that this is a bogus poster.

 

His handle is: XXXXXXXX (edited out by Community Manager)

 

If you run across a bogus poster in your research, post their ID in this thread so that the rest of us can weed out the garbage and get accurate information.

[frontrangecruiser]

XXXXXXX (edited by Community Manager)posted verbatim statements on every single Belize Cave tubing question pushing his SPAM/advertising.

 

Check out his profile, and go see all his posts...all are the same...

 

People need to be aware of "this company is great" posts, especially when they give out the number and the website....its advertising at it's worst :mad:

[LauraS]

This is not the right thing to do. Instead, you can write me directly at community@cruisecritic.com with your suspicions...I will check them out (and do it all the time, it isn't something we are particularly pleased with in regard to TOUR OPERATORS disengenuous posting).

 

However, it is up to Cruise Critic to decide, after investigating, whether or not someone's posts are bogus. Believe me, we have the TOOLS to do it, so let us do our job.

 

Finally, you can also use the Yellow Triangle in every post to alert us to anything you feel may be "bogus". You'll have an opportunity to state in the form why you are reporting the post.

 

Thanks for your cooperation. I do understand your frustration, and we'll take whatever steps necessary to stop these kinds of post, such as CENSOR the company name of a tour operator when Cruise Critic feels, in our SOLE discretion, that they are abusing our community and our members.

 

Laura

[Stacey from CT]

Thanks for bringing up this issue, gospelle - this problem seems especially bad on the Belize boards. I nearly booked with a certain Belize tour guide until I realized that her emails were written in exactly the same broken English as most of her reviews...then I looked back at the reviews and noticed the same pattern - all of a person's posts push this company, and all give the website/email address for it.

Pretty obvious in hindsight, but a casual CC surfer might not catch it!

 

My posts discussing this tour guide appear to have been pulled; now I know the reason (I think) from LauraS's response.

[gospelle]

Laura, If you're doing your job so well, why are we all seeing these posts???:mad:

 

We've just mentioned two people, yet all their posts are still sitting there causing people to make incorrect choices based on bogus info. Pulling the names from our thread here is not the answer. We're actually DOING something about it. What are you doing?

[mariapd719]

Alpha can you give me the names please

 

Id like to not be had, not get something I paid for or have an unsafe experience. I dont frequent the Belize boards so dont know who you are talking about.

 

As a community Leader you would think that you wouldnt want people to possibly get injured or taken for. This is valuable information and should not be censored considering it could get someone hurt. Would you want to walk blindly into a bad situation because it was "recommended" so highly? A member here is trying to protect others from having something potentially dangerous happen to them in a foreign place but yet its being censored :confused:

[cruisinhs]

The problem is that the member who is supposedly trying to "protect" people here hasn't actually done his research to be able to point out specific names of those he believes to be bogus posters. He is basing his opinion on a small amount of reading he has done on the profile of these posters. I gaurantee he has not read through 200 posts to see what else has been written about. I think it's rude that he would single people out in this way without any proof that what he's saying is true.

[Stacey from CT]

Maria, my best advice to you is: if you're interested in a tour operator based on CC reviews, click on the name of the reviewer - the option "view all posts by this person" will appear - choose that - if all (or most) of their posts are pushing this tour operator, it's a dead give-away.

Tour operators may sign on to CC with multiple aliases. If all these posters have a similar (flawed) writing style, that's a big red flag.

 

It's true, we rely on CC recommendations for safety, value, etc. If you're using a tour operator based on them recommending themselves fraudulently, then not only do you not know anything about them, you're using someone who's dishonest and sneaky! Not someone I'd want to trust my family's safety to in a foreign country.

[LauraS]

Laura, If you're doing your job so well, why are we all seeing these posts???:mad:

 

We've just mentioned two people, yet all their posts are still sitting there causing people to make incorrect choices based on bogus info. Pulling the names from our thread here is not the answer. We're actually DOING something about it. What are you doing?

 

I do not like posting this, but in this case I must. Your information was incorrect -- at least with regard to one of the names you posted. I'm sorry, you probably won't (don't want to) believe me, but I'm telling you that you were wrong.

 

Which is why we cannot allow reporting of posters to happen on the boards.

 

Also, we do all of our work behind the scenes. While you may say "why are we seeing all these posts", that doesn't mean we aren't tracking what needs to be tracked. As you know, posts aren't prescreened before they appear, and they may remain online until we can ascertain that they are, indeed, bogus. You can certainly report posts, and we'll take a much closer look at them -- and we'll be able to do it quicker because you've helped us.

 

That said, we don't like when tour operators, or travel agents, abuse our members. When those who sell travel open our forums, many of them only see sales. That's unfortunate -- for them. Because if I can prove that *someone* is constantly touting a tour operator FOR THEIR OWN GAIN -- whether it be the tour operator themselves or someone assoicated with that tour operator -- they will find their company name can no longer be viewed on Cruise Critic.

 

Tour operators would do best by allowing the service, price and value they provide on a tour be their best advertising -- and allowing members who return from their cruises to report as such.

 

Laura

[gaylenhazel]

Laura,

I for one appreciate what you are doing. I like a board that has some control. I've learned so much from CC. Keep up the good work!

[addicted to cruising]

Laura,

 

I too wanted to say how thankful I am that I found this site. It has provided oodles of info and hopefully some long term friendships. this will be the first cruise where I will have created a relationship with my fellow cruisers before we even board. "gospelle" is my rollcall leader and he has pointed out posts that we should be careful about. Im very much an ameatur on this site, but I to have noticed the posts as have many others who have immediatly drawn attention to them with there responce. Glad to know you exist! Fellow board members, do your homework and crusie around the treads to establish creadible reviews.