Google Maps Will Let You Hide Your Identity When Writing Reviews (pcmag.com) 37
An anonymous reader quotes a report from PCMag: Four new features are coming to Google Maps, including a way to hide your identity in reviews. Maps will soon let you use a nickname and select an alternative profile picture for online reviews, so you can rate a business without linking it to full name and Google profile photo. Google says it will monitor for "suspicious and fake reviews," and every review is still associated with an account on Google's backend, which it believes will discourage bad actors.
Look for a new option under Your Profile that says Use a custom name & picture for posting. You'll then be able to pick an illustration to represent you and add a nickname. Google didn't explain why it is introducing anonymous reviews; it pitched the idea as a way to be a business's "Secret Santa." Some users are nervous to publicly post reviews for local businesses as it may be used to track their location or movements. It may encourage more people to contribute honest feedback to its platform, for better or worse. Further reading: Gemini AI To Transform Google Maps Into a More Conversational Experience
Look for a new option under Your Profile that says Use a custom name & picture for posting. You'll then be able to pick an illustration to represent you and add a nickname. Google didn't explain why it is introducing anonymous reviews; it pitched the idea as a way to be a business's "Secret Santa." Some users are nervous to publicly post reviews for local businesses as it may be used to track their location or movements. It may encourage more people to contribute honest feedback to its platform, for better or worse. Further reading: Gemini AI To Transform Google Maps Into a More Conversational Experience
asdf (Score:1)
Re: asdf (Score:1)
Features which should have been core (Score:5, Insightful)
This should have been an option from the very inception of Google reviews. It's why you get so many fake reviews because genuine users, or at least those with a healthy amount of common sense, are reluctant to leave their name online and make themselves a target.
The conversation between viewers and Google should always go like this:
- Is this user verified?
- Yes.
- What's their name?
- Not your business.
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In many other countries [google.com], as well, but don't let that stop you from masturbating furiously over how much you hate the US.
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And you've just accused me.
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Re: Features which should have been core (Score:2)
Well, one important thing to remember here is that just because YOU don't agree with a given review, doesn't meal it's not valid. It's a system of opinions and everyone is entitled to their own, and to voicing their own experience. Just because it doesn't align with your experience, it doesn't make it disinformation.
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You're conflating several things, imho, which are important to note.
Firstly, not everyone is entitled to voice their experiences publicly, it depends on where one lives, and what legal precedents there are. For the avoidance of any doubt, even in a country such as the USA there are limits to voicing one's experiences (such as when a judge issues a gag order).
Secondly, fake experiences are extremely likely, and in fact, have been common for at least one generation (20 years) on the Internet. Businesses us
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I still think that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Bad reviews, provided they are expressed constructively, are still valid. And if you're an individual who doesn't know where the line is, then you just deserve what's coming.
In my opinion (ironically, in the context of this thread), I think user reviews are a good idea. They let us discard that which is worthless and invest our time better elsewhere.
But you're right. The system can and is abused to fight competition. That's why I suggested that a
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Google reviews are just like Amazon reviews and anywhere else. They're crap and mostly astroturfed by the company themselves.
Adding anonymous reviews won't improve review quality. It'll just leave small businesses unable to defend themselves or respond to random Karens who didn't feel they were treated special enough.
I love seeing bad reviews where the small businesses owner responds and we find out the reviewer was some Karen making shit up or not telling the whole story. This new review system will just encourage more Karens to destroy small local businesses but leave owners unable to respond if they don't know who the Karen is.
I dislike the idea of people leaving reviews while being to cowardly to sign their name (or pseudonym):
-When a reviewer's ID is attached to their review, their friends and family can see what they had to say: if you are foul-mothed or just rude, your grandma and your potential girlfriend can see it (not automatically, but it is there if they they care to look).
-It can also lend weight to a review. If BobSmith24 says they had a great time, and you personally know BobSmith24, you may actually trust the revie
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I dislike the idea of people leaving reviews while being to cowardly to sign their name (or pseudonym)
Huh? In case you did not know you did not fill out your name in your profile on /. here. A bit flummoxed by that line in the quote.
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-It can also lend weight to a review. If BobSmith24 says they had a great time, and you personally know BobSmith24, you may actually trust the review.
So can using a pseudonym long enough to create a history of honest reviews. If BobSmith24 is your professional identity and you don't want people to judge your good or bad reviews by your professional identity, creating a history of reviews as "IntrepidHiker26" would gain the same recognition of insightful reviews. If you want to disclose to your friends and family that you are IntrepidHiker26 then you can also do that.
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Sounds about right.
People making shit up.
People who didn't get something for free.
People who ordered something they didn't like, with nothing being wrong with what they did order.
People who just want to bitch and moan.
That's what you get with anon reviews.
Online reviews are bullshit. (Score:4, Interesting)
I had the misfortune of working for a company that tied their bonuses and employment evaluations based on this five-star record crap. This was in medicine. So my "approval" was based on stupid shit like how satisfied they were with the front desk staff, which I explicitly had no control over. Then a bunch of the senior members in the corporation were gaming the situation, doing things like hijacking the dumbass messages that they sent to patients(*) that most didn't respond to.
* -- The system that they had would keep a log of all text messages sent to patients. As soon as the patient was discharged, it would send a text message to the patient asking them for an evaluation. These clowns would hijack it and give a 5-star review. If the patient actually bothered to respond to it, it would then say something like "Thank you for your review" and not even prompt them. They used this to scam the entire system.
And yes, this place was an utter shithole to work in, and it's the only place in my history that I actually went out of my way to get myself fired. If I'd quit, they had a clause that I had to pay $30,000 if I didn't give a 90 day notice. (I kid you not.) To this day, they are still posting ads trying to snare people for about 50% of the market rate for physicians.
The entire idea of the 5-star system is stupid. By definition, average would be 3-stars. But try explaining this to the legions of dumbass MBAs running things.
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The entire idea of the 5-star system is stupid. By definition, average would be 3-stars. But try explaining this to the legions of dumbass MBAs running things.
When you're a narcissist, and stupid, it's pretty obvious, to you, that you're inherently superior to all other human beings, therefore, it is literally impossible for anyone to honestly give you less than the best possible rating.
Yes, these "people" really do believe that.
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As soon as the patient was discharged, it would send a text message to the patient asking them for an evaluation.
There are some similarities though on physical products I just don't get filling out a survey when you do not know if it will break down a few weeks after owning something. Medicine can take time and medical equipment can take time to see if it works. Any insights on the timing of the survey coming out so soon? Is it just a darth vader MBA kinda thing to boost the ratings?
As a side note I seen at a retail convenience store they had a tablet on a post on the way out and I heard them say no one was in th
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As soon as the patient was discharged, it would send a text message to the patient asking them for an evaluation.
There are some similarities though on physical products I just don't get filling out a survey when you do not know if it will break down a few weeks after owning something. Medicine can take time and medical equipment can take time to see if it works. Any insights on the timing of the survey coming out so soon? Is it just a darth vader MBA kinda thing to boost the ratings?
They didn't give one damn about the quality of medical care or outcome. This was an urgent care center. The entire thing was part of the corruption during COVID-19 to grift as much money as possible. COVID-19 tests were readily available at the local grocery store, and the government was sending people free ones. But if they went into the urgent care center and saw a "provider" before the test sample was obtained, then had it "interpreted" by the "provider" and explained to them after the result, they could
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Reviews have become today's info chaff (Score:4, Insightful)
I wouldn't trust Google to protect my identity (Score:2)
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All it's going to take is a subpoena and that's that.
Yes. In a society with a rule of law, it cannot be any other way. The only alternative is to people can tell whatever lies they want without fear of consequences, even if it literally gets people killed. We see too much of that already.
Rental Reviews (Score:3)
Enabling bulk blackmail (Score:3)
Spammers already create Google accounts in bulk so they can send you their crap. Now they can also use these accounts to blackmail small businesses that depend on reviews for their survival. "Pay us or we'll flood you with 1-star reviews." This already happens, but allowing people to hide their identities will make it even easier.
Why? (Score:2)
Am I supposed to be shamed of my review?
Or is this just to support people saying nasty shit with no accountability?
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The word you're looking for is "retribution".
What to do about the lawyers? (Score:1)