Know-How Exchange : Other

Dear Greg,

As far as I'm aware, Amazon reviews are filtered, both for content and for length. Otherwise anyone could post anything, and the last thing Amazon wants is a review listing peppered with profanity and spam links.

Were I in your shoes I'd forget about the "could be editing things in the background" side of things and I'd concentrate on quality. Depending on what it is you're selling, you might be better off with moderated comments for exactly the reasons I outlined with Amazon.

Again, were I offering a forum in which customers could comment, I'd be keeping a watchful eye on what was being posted because negative PR through one or two reviews riddled with profanity can do a great deal of damage to credibility. And as I'm sure you know, online, credibility is a huge, huge asset and one that really needs to be well protected.

To get around the issue of "could be editing in the background", be upfront about it and tell people reviews MAY be edited for length and to accommodate a family audience. And any reviews that DO get edited, flag them as having been cut or cleaned up and offer the uncut, unclean version via direct e-mail if that's what a site user wants.

And ultimately, that's the golden rule: your site is more about your users and their experiences than it is about you as the site owner or administrator. Simply put, you don't count any more than I count with regard to my site.

What DOES matter is what people get out of the interaction. To see first hand how a forum might suit you, consider looking at the forum templates on the link below:

www.templatemonster.com/category/forums

You might just find something that meets your needs.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA