Feedback boosting vs. feedback manipulations

[Kesha]

Hey guys! 

Considering some of the feedback I received from this post, as well as some of the messages you all have sent me, I wanted to take some time to clarify the difference between feedback manipulation and feedback boosting. Although the two are closely related and often confused, they are two distinct types of warnings. Let’s break it down: 

If you receive a feedback manipulation warning, it is likely because you were believed to have used manipulative language when communicating with your client about reviews. This typically involves trying to convince your buyer to either edit or remove a review, or to leave a more positive one than they were originally planning to. Examples of manipulative tactics include: 

• Coaching- “If you had a good experience, please leave a review.” 
• Guilt tripping- “I won’t be able to feed my family if you leave me a bad review.” 
• Bribing- “If you leave me a good review I will deliver something a little extra for you.” 
• Threatening- “I will ruin your website if you don’t leave me a good review.”

Feedback boosting warnings, on the other hand, are issued when our system suspects that two or more users have partnered up to create a false order to leave a fake public or private review that will inflate the seller’s rating.

Both feedback manipulation and boosting violate our Terms of Service and Community Standards. Engaging in either behavior could result in a warning or even suspension of your account. Therefore, we encourage you to maintain integrity and honesty while navigating our ratings and review system. This will help keep our marketplace fair and trustworthy and preserve your account and success on our platform.

[precious_ha]

3 hours ago, Kesha said:

Hey guys! 

Considering some of the feedback I received from this post, as well as some of the messages you all have sent me, I wanted to take some time to clarify the difference between feedback manipulation and feedback boosting. Although the two are closely related and often confused, they are two distinct types of warnings. Let’s break it down: 

If you receive a feedback manipulation warning, it is likely because you were believed to have used manipulative language when communicating with your client about reviews. This typically involves trying to convince your buyer to either edit or remove a review, or to leave a more positive one than they were originally planning to. Examples of manipulative tactics include: 

• Coaching- “If you had a good experience, please leave a review.” 
• Guilt tripping- “I won’t be able to feed my family if you leave me a bad review.” 
• Bribing- “If you leave me a good review I will deliver something a little extra for you.” 
• Threatening- “I will ruin your website if you don’t leave me a good review.”

Feedback boosting warnings, on the other hand, are issued when our system suspects that two or more users have partnered up to create a false order to leave a fake public or private review that will inflate the seller’s rating.

Both feedback manipulation and boosting violate our Terms of Service and Community Standards. Engaging in either behavior could result in a warning or even suspension of your account. Therefore, we encourage you to maintain integrity and honesty while navigating our ratings and review system. This will help keep our marketplace fair and trustworthy and preserve your account and success on our platform.

Thank you 

[komalbakhtavr]

8 hours ago, Kesha said:

Hey guys! 

Considering some of the feedback I received from this post, as well as some of the messages you all have sent me, I wanted to take some time to clarify the difference between feedback manipulation and feedback boosting. Although the two are closely related and often confused, they are two distinct types of warnings. Let’s break it down: 

If you receive a feedback manipulation warning, it is likely because you were believed to have used manipulative language when communicating with your client about reviews. This typically involves trying to convince your buyer to either edit or remove a review, or to leave a more positive one than they were originally planning to. Examples of manipulative tactics include: 

• Coaching- “If you had a good experience, please leave a review.” 
• Guilt tripping- “I won’t be able to feed my family if you leave me a bad review.” 
• Bribing- “If you leave me a good review I will deliver something a little extra for you.” 
• Threatening- “I will ruin your website if you don’t leave me a good review.”

Feedback boosting warnings, on the other hand, are issued when our system suspects that two or more users have partnered up to create a false order to leave a fake public or private review that will inflate the seller’s rating.

Both feedback manipulation and boosting violate our Terms of Service and Community Standards. Engaging in either behavior could result in a warning or even suspension of your account. Therefore, we encourage you to maintain integrity and honesty while navigating our ratings and review system. This will help keep our marketplace fair and trustworthy and preserve your account and success on our platform.

Thank you for explaining it.

[fasihzia]

Thanks for sharing. I have some questions.

1.) What is the best way to ask for a review? My manager told me to send a reminder after 30 days asking to leave a private feedback. How can this review be manipulative or boosting warning?

2.) If I find a client somewhere on social media and I ask him to place an order on Fiverr. Of course, I will be sharing my gig/profile link with him but we are already outside of the platform. So how is Fiverr going to differentiate whether it's a real or a fake order just trying to get some fake reviews? I cannot force my client to have all the communication on Fiverr because he already has my WhatsApp and social media contacts. How we gonna handle this?

[donnovan86]

2 hours ago, fasihzia said:

How can this review be manipulative or boosting warning?

 

It's manipulative if you tell the buyer to write a 5 star review. If you just tell them to leave a review and don't force them in any way, that's the right way to do it.

[ajibade_timmy]

Thanks for this 

[abdur016]

thanks for share this experience 

[aa_osman]

Thank you!

[Kesha]

On 11/28/2024 at 4:05 AM, fasihzia said:

Thanks for sharing. I have some questions.

1.) What is the best way to ask for a review? My manager told me to send a reminder after 30 days asking to leave a private feedback. How can this review be manipulative or boosting warning?

2.) If I find a client somewhere on social media and I ask him to place an order on Fiverr. Of course, I will be sharing my gig/profile link with him but we are already outside of the platform. So how is Fiverr going to differentiate whether it's a real or a fake order just trying to get some fake reviews? I cannot force my client to have all the communication on Fiverr because he already has my WhatsApp and social media contacts. How we gonna handle this?

Hi there!

As Donovan mentioned, asking for feedback is not against the Terms of Service. The secret is all in the words you use, so just make sure you avoid manipulation, coaching, bribery, or threats.  

As for your second question, we understand that some clients will come from outside the platform, and those cases are factored into our system when detecting feedback-boosting attempts.

 

[abrar_h_]

Hi Kesha, Thank you for the helpful clarification about feedback policies. I've noticed some suspicious ranking patterns that might indicate manipulation is still occurring. Would it be possible to strengthen the detection systems or increase human oversight of sudden ranking changes? I'd be happy to provide more specific feedback through appropriate channels if that would be helpful.

[filipdevaere]

18 minutes ago, abrar_h_ said:

I've noticed some suspicious ranking patterns that might indicate manipulation is still occurring.

I'm always very interested in examples.

[abrar_h_]

5 minutes ago, filipdevaere said:

I'm always very interested in examples.

I don't think it's appropriate to discuss this here, as it could raise security concerns and potentially encourage misuse by others.

[collinsconsult]

Thank you for this information. 

[dereck_s]

I wonder how important reviews are with the new system. What if I get a bunch of orders but they don't leave a review at all? Obviously a bad review hurts me but if they don't leave a review is that also seen as a bad thing? I normally never ask for a review because I just don't care if I get one or not but if not getting a review can hurt my account then I can start asking for one.

[Kesha]

3 hours ago, dereck_s said:

I wonder how important reviews are with the new system. What if I get a bunch of orders but they don't leave a review at all? Obviously a bad review hurts me but if they don't leave a review is that also seen as a bad thing? I normally never ask for a review because I just don't care if I get one or not but if not getting a review can hurt my account then I can start asking for one.

Hi! As a best practice, I recommend asking for a review whenever possible. Not getting reviews isn't inherently negative, but it does mean that there is less data to measure how buyers feel about working with you, which can impact your performance. 

[paschalisblack]

On 11/27/2024 at 11:55 PM, Kesha said:

Feedback boosting warnings, on the other hand, are issued when our system suspects that two or more users have partnered up to create a false order to leave a fake public or private review that will inflate the seller’s rating.

I have received 3 false warnings about "feedback boosting" since June 2024. Thankfully, all 3 were removed from my account after contacting CS. System doesn't do a good job while suspecting feedback boosting bevavior. Other sellers have received more than 10 false warnings about "feedback boosting". Fiverr should stop relying on this ai system since it "suspects" violations where there isn't any.