Saturday Musings: Why I turned off the stars

So I didn't literally turn off THE stars. But I DID turn them off on my Facebook page. Why? Is there something I'm trying to hide? No. But honesty is a big thing for me. The way that Facebook page ratings are set up are kinda screwy and they don't allow for honest reviews.

Freedigitalphotos.net

One of my friends posted the other day about a review she'd received stating that her product was messy and unprofessional. This friend, also very proud of the work she does and having received tons of other complimentary reviews, asked the reviewer what she had made for her and how she could fix it. There was, of course, no response because said reviewer had never purchased anything from my friend.

Freedigitalphotos.net by digitalart

I thought long and hard about this and decided to go in and look at my reviews and star ratings. I was plugging along at 4.5 stars. Not too bad. I can't please everyone, although I do try! However, all I had were stars, which were not followed by any comments or actual reviews. Someone had left 1 star and I couldn't think of a single customer that had ever expressed any displeasure with my work.

So I explored a bit further. Seems that the way Facebook has their review process set up is not very favorable for pages and businesses. People can come onto your page and leave however many stars they want or scathing reviews, without actually ever having experienced your product or dealt with you personally! I was a little bit shocked and sickened because this means that anyone, anywhere, at any time can pop on to your page and destroy your business!

Etsy has installed a similar review system, but someone actually has to purchase your product before they can leave you a review. And if they don't like it, at least it is an honest feeling based on something substantial.

My aforementioned friend also said that she looked at some of the other pages this reviewer had followed and found that she had a friend in the same business as my friend. (I know that's confusing, but I don't want to say names or allude to what she does.) She had left a 5-star stellar review on the other person's page. Hmm...seems a bit fishy to me!

Freedigitalphotos.net by ImageryMajestic

I think honest reviews are a way for sellers to show their customers that they can (or cannot) do the work they are saying they can do. If someone honestly likes something, they should let that seller know. If they honestly don't, let them know why. It's just too easy for dishonest people to abuse the system that Facebook has in place. So I shut off the stars.

If you want honest reviews of my work from customers, please visit my Etsy page and see what I'm doing for others!