New Rule: No asking to exchange recommendations via message system.

Written on December 20th, 2007 by Graham

To protect the integrity of the recommendation system, and to cut down on spam, we are making a new rule. You cannot ask other people to exchange recommendations with you via our message system. If someone writes a recommendation, it is supposed to be an honest recommendation, written by someone’s existing readers.

So, no messaging others in a plot to exchange recommendations. Credit penalties may be issued if we see people continue to ask for reviews. We are very serious about the integrity of the review system, and attempts to game the review system will be taken just as seriously as attempts to game the credit system.

Finally, we may delete some reviews that we find people have blatantly asked others for via Entrecard.

Thanks for understanding. 99% of the reviews out there are honest, but we find that one enterprising individual (you know who you are) has launched a campaign asking everyone to review them, so they can climb to the top of the review page. Needless to say, this is not its intended use, and we want this to stop.

PLEASE NOTE

Holding contests on your own blog for recommendations is perfectly fine. The reasoning here is that if you hold the contest on your existing blog, it is targeted toward your existing readers who can write honest recommendations. This rule applies specifically to using our message system for review exchanges.