The Review I Submitted Was Changed Without My Permission Options

[Texasrvers]

No need for an apology. As you said, you were just expressing your opinion.

[tsparky]

I submitted a review last week that hasn't appeared yet. Is there a procedure? I checked and I don't have any messages.

[Texasrvers]

I submitted a review last week that hasn't appeared yet. Is there a procedure? I checked and I don't have any messages.

I cannot find a review submitted under your username. Is it possible you used a different name? Do you remember getting a "Thank You" screen when you completed your review. If not, then your review was not submitted successfully.

[Jerry S.]

In the past week or two I have had several reviews take 5-6 days to post versus 1-2 days for other reviews written at about the same time. I'm guessing that at least one review checker is a bit more backlogged than some of the others.

[Jerry S.]

TX,

Actually, I am begining to wonder about a review I did about a week ago (I'm almost positive I got the "Thank You" message on this review) for the Belton RV Park in Belton, TX. I was there 10/26 & 27 and I think I submitted the review 10/28 or 29. I've written at least 4 reviews on other parks since then that have already posted. I'd appreciate it if you could check on this review.

Thanks.

[Texasrvers]

Sorry Jerry, but I can't find your review. When you made your previous comment on Oct. 31 about it taking a little longer before your reviews were posted, I checked to see if we had a backlog, but we didn't. At that time there were less than a dozen reviews waiting to be approved, and they had just recently come in. I did notice that you had two reviews in that list, and I am fairly certain that neither of them was for Belton. I am pretty sure they were for RV parks at a casino. So at this point I have no idea what happened to the Belton review. All I can suggest is that you send it in again. If it shows up some weird place in the meantime, I'll let you know. Thanks for checking.

TX

[Jerry S.]

TX,

Thanks for checking. As I said, I'm fairly certain that I saw the "Thank You" page. I'll just redo it tonight or tomorrow.

Jerry

[Jerry S.]

I almost hate to bring this thread back to life, but I guess it is my turn to whine a little. I recently submitted my first review of the year. It was for Camp Lakewood in Effingham, IL. I felt the review was butchered by whomever checked it. They removed almost half the review. For starters, I explained why I was re-reviewing that park so soon after my previous review - there had been a significant change in the park situation. Since this a fairly popular park with lots of regular returning customers, I thought most of them would appreciate learning that the folks who owned the park for years had sold the park. I do understand eliminating the names of the old and new owners. If that was all the admin did, I wouldn't be upset. Why take out comments about the importance how well the owners take care of the park? Also, is it wrong to reference a previous review of your own that may shed light on the park amenities and facilities? I think I did that in this review (or the one I also submitted yesterday on Lady Luck RV Park in Caruthersville, MO) and it was taken out.

I'm certainly not threatening to stop submitting reviews like the complaintants earlier in this thread, but I would like to think somebody with my track record shouldn't have their reviews cut so severely.

Thanks for letting me rant a bit.

[RLM]

Thanks for letting me rant a bit.

First, let me say that I don't think your post is a rant. It is a tactful explanation of your concern and that is appreciated.

The Admins do have the authority to make corrections to a review so that it complies with the rules, guidelines, and standards that are established for this website. Most of those guidelines are covered in the Rules for Submitting a review. Everyone must acknowledge those prior to submitting one. Unfortunately, we still get lots of non-compliance from those who do not read them or choose not to comply. Some of the standards are not published but are common sense. Like not putting personal names in a review, mentioning a competing campground in the review of another, or adding comment information that has serves no useful purpose for fellow Rvers in their decision to use the campground.

All of the Admins are hand picked and trained to do the job to a certain standard. They are experienced RVer. They check hundreds of reviews that come in for accurate campground information and to insure that the comments are easily read and understood. A review does not serve it's purpose when what is written cannot be easily read and understood. With all due respect to everyone, the bottom line is that if the Admin, an experienced RVer, doesn't understand what you are trying to communicate then neither will other readers.

If the Admin does take the time necessary to make a correction, we try to do so in a manner that respects the reviewer's submission and in a way that doesn't change the intent of what is being said by that person. However, if we did that for all of the reviews then we would be working at a snail's pace. That would be doing a disservice to those who expect to have their review approved in a timely manner. The easiest, and quickest, solution is to send the review back to the individual and let them make the corrections.

I read this particular review and some of your previous ones. They are well done and would serve the purpose of my making the decision to use one of the campgrounds mentioned. You have submitted a lot of good reviews. Perhaps, because of your “track record” and service to fellow Rvers, the Admin was thinking it would be a courtesy in not sending it back for the corrections that they took the time to do - even if those were more than necessary. Both chooses are judgment calls. We would like to get them right 100% of the time, but that is impossible.

None of Admins would reject suggestions that help us to do a better job of serving the website visitors. Thank you for yours.

[JCZ]

I just submitted a review for an RV Park in Sacramento, Ca. (Mark J RV Park). As I was going down through the check boxes I noticed that it changed to Cal Expo RV Park. I manually changed it back to Mark J and again went through all the check boxes and posted my text. Then, after I clicked "next" a window opened that said "Thank you for your review of Cal Expo RV Park". Not the park I was reviewing.

So I wonder if this is happening to others and that may be why their review isn't showing up where it should be?

JC

[Texasrvers]

I just submitted a review for an RV Park in Sacramento, Ca. (Mark J RV Park). As I was going down through the check boxes I noticed that it changed to Cal Expo RV Park. I manually changed it back to Mark J and again went through all the check boxes and posted my text. Then, after I clicked "next" a window opened that said "Thank you for your review of Cal Expo RV Park". Not the park I was reviewing.

So I wonder if this is happening to others and that may be why their review isn't showing up where it should be?

JC

I have never heard of anything like that happening before--but hey, there's always a first. I cannot explain why that happened, but I checked, and your review that is in the queue definitely says it is for Mark J RV Park. It should be checked in a day or so. Thanks for reporting this.

[Jerry S.]

RLM,

While I appreciate the effort you went through to write a reasonable explanation of what may have happened to my review, I still have issues with those explanations.

1. I certainly did not "break" any of the written "rules" for submitting a review.

2. As for the "other rules" (mentioning names or other campgrounds) which you say are based on common sense, I don't understand how they are based on common sense. They may be based on potential legal issues, but common sense?

3. I do understand not putting useless information in the review and I do not believe I did that. Some of the information I included, which the Admin eliminated, may not have seemed important to him/her, but I think it was usefull information for the many members of this site who have stayed at this park previously. The Admin did not have adequate knowledge of the situation to make the decision to eliminate my comments.

4. Just because somebody has travelled a lot by RV does not automatically mean they are qualified to be Admins - even with some sort of training. Many experienced RVers actually have very limited experience with diffferent types of parks and campgrounds. There was one instance a few years ago when somebody in that position actually used it to screw with other members. Although I was not one of them, many folks here probably thought highly of this guy until his fall from grace. I am not saying the Admin I am disageeing with is a bad guy, but I do believe his judgement concerning this particular review was way out of line.

[RLM]

Jerry> Avoiding potential legal issues could be considered common sense.

Please know that I did not intend to imply that you broke any rules or that the information in a review is assessed based on what was important to the Administrator. Your legitimate concern about the change to your review gave me the opportunity to let others know some of the logic behind what we do and why decisions are made. It was to let them know that we apply the same guidelines and standards whether a reviewer is submitting their first couple of reviews or the individual has submitted several hundred. Aside from the change issue, we certainly would prefer to approve a review instead of sending it back. If for no other reason than someone has to work it all over again when it is resubmitted with the requested changes. More importantly, we would like to approve a review because we simply know that someone took the time to do it for the benefit of others who might be looking to use that particular campground.

Your observation is true that a lot of travel in an RV may not give one the experience to be in customer service for this website. Please know that the current Administrator staff are both experienced RVers and experienced with their job. And, as with any organization, there are rules for them to follow and adhere to. As a group, they have been to many, many of the Mexico, Canada, and the US campgrounds being reviewed. Having done so, one may totally disagree with the submitted campground review, but that is never a factor in approving the review.

It is impossible for any Admins, or for that matter anyone in customer service, to achieve a perfect record of pleasing everyone all of the time. That is because his/her occasional judgment call may have to be used to determine if an uncertain or unclear review is within the guidelines for the site. I would ask that you have patience and understanding for that fact.

My Dad worked for and loved the railroad all of his life. One of the things I remember him saying is “I ride up front but I don't get to steer the locomotive. I don't get to choose the route, instead I have to go where the tracks take me. I have to blow the whistle to keep people out of the train's path, but they only complain about the noise. Basically, I have little control over the train, but if the darn think jumps the track see who gets the blame.”

Again, the change to your review could have been way out of line and it could be one where our train jumped the track. Be that as it may, the issue is a good reason for us to re-think “useful” information. As I said in the last post, we are always open to anything that helps us do better a better job of customer service.