SLUniverse Forums - View Single Post - Abuse of XStreet Rating/Review/Discussion system

Vivienne Daguerre · 11-01-2009, 01:05 PM

I wish XStreet would remove the reviews. I get good reviews, but on one of my products someone rated it negatively and then advised people to buy another item by another maker. Everyone else had reviewed the item positively. This joker was abusing the rating system to promote someone else's similar item and steal potential sales from me, possibly his own as an alt. I find that some customers do take the time to rate something positively that they liked, but most do not. It is a useless feature to me that can be abused.

To solve the issue, I took down the listing and re-listed it. That was before the Lindens put out their TOS for XStreet SL. If you take down a listing and re-list it now, you have broken a rule. Yet, if you try to use XStreet's support system, you may never get a response. It leaves us with no way to defend ourselves against such abuse.

I received a negative review from a customer on another occasion. The person did not read the instruction notecard and did not even contact me for help. I give top notch customer service and have my IMs come to my email. If I get the email and am at my computer, I go into world immediately to help the person.

I went into world, contacted her, explained what the problem was and got her all fixed up. I then did scold her lightly, telling her that she would find that most SL merchants were honest and not out to rip people off, and that most offer excellent customer service as I just did. I told her I thought the rating without contacting me was unfair to me, and potentially damaging. She felt bad, found a way to change her rating to a positive one, and she did so.

The system is abusable. Some creators give money to their friends who buy their item from Xstreet and review it positively. The creator gets his money back, minus the XStreet fee, so these false ratings can be cheaply bought at that.

Another merchant said that she had a negative experience. She had made a fully modifiable item and sold it. A customer bought it and wanted it changed. He did not know how to modify it even though it was modifiable. (The request involved stretching a prim.) He said that he did not want to have to negatively rate her on XStreet. She went and helped him, and likely would have even without the threat. He then wanted a scripting change, holding that threat of a negative rating over her head, making the item behave in an unrealistic way. She now has her item in world behaving in a way she does not like with her name on it, a potentially bad example of her work for all to see. In this case the the rating/review system was used to blackmail her into making a modification she did not want to make.

There used to be an avatar rating system long ago, which the Lindens removed because it was gamed and abused. I don't know why they think this rating system will work any better. It is just a pain in the butt to honest creators trying to deliver good quality products and give good customer service. That would include most of us I would think. There are some bad apples out there to be sure, but I don't think this is the best way to address that problem.

11-01-2009, 01:05 PM	#1 (permalink)
Vivienne Daguerre Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 9	Abuse of XStreet Rating/Review/Discussion system I wish XStreet would remove the reviews. I get good reviews, but on one of my products someone rated it negatively and then advised people to buy another item by another maker. Everyone else had reviewed the item positively. This joker was abusing the rating system to promote someone else's similar item and steal potential sales from me, possibly his own as an alt. I find that some customers do take the time to rate something positively that they liked, but most do not. It is a useless feature to me that can be abused. To solve the issue, I took down the listing and re-listed it. That was before the Lindens put out their TOS for XStreet SL. If you take down a listing and re-list it now, you have broken a rule. Yet, if you try to use XStreet's support system, you may never get a response. It leaves us with no way to defend ourselves against such abuse. I received a negative review from a customer on another occasion. The person did not read the instruction notecard and did not even contact me for help. I give top notch customer service and have my IMs come to my email. If I get the email and am at my computer, I go into world immediately to help the person. I went into world, contacted her, explained what the problem was and got her all fixed up. I then did scold her lightly, telling her that she would find that most SL merchants were honest and not out to rip people off, and that most offer excellent customer service as I just did. I told her I thought the rating without contacting me was unfair to me, and potentially damaging. She felt bad, found a way to change her rating to a positive one, and she did so. The system is abusable. Some creators give money to their friends who buy their item from Xstreet and review it positively. The creator gets his money back, minus the XStreet fee, so these false ratings can be cheaply bought at that. Another merchant said that she had a negative experience. She had made a fully modifiable item and sold it. A customer bought it and wanted it changed. He did not know how to modify it even though it was modifiable. (The request involved stretching a prim.) He said that he did not want to have to negatively rate her on XStreet. She went and helped him, and likely would have even without the threat. He then wanted a scripting change, holding that threat of a negative rating over her head, making the item behave in an unrealistic way. She now has her item in world behaving in a way she does not like with her name on it, a potentially bad example of her work for all to see. In this case the the rating/review system was used to blackmail her into making a modification she did not want to make. There used to be an avatar rating system long ago, which the Lindens removed because it was gamed and abused. I don't know why they think this rating system will work any better. It is just a pain in the butt to honest creators trying to deliver good quality products and give good customer service. That would include most of us I would think. There are some bad apples out there to be sure, but I don't think this is the best way to address that problem. Last edited by Vivienne Daguerre; 11-01-2009 at 01:15 PM.