GameFAQs Nuking Negative Reader Reviews?

jvm writes "Are negative reader reviews of the Sony PlayStation Portable (like this one) being yanked from GameFAQs? Some have certainly been removed, and Kyle Orland of the Video Game Ombudsman investigates: one of the reviews which was taken down, an interview with the author of the review, and a subsequent anonymous email purportedly by the person who took the review down. The review's author then responds that the justifications are questionable. Accompanying this is a discussion of the handling of reader-submitted reviews." Update: 04/16 04:53 GMT by Z : Many thanks to CJayC for setting the record straight in the comments below.

Comments

Re:That's like IMDB

[Lisandro]

Are you sure? IMDB has as many braindead reviews as every other site on the net, imho - if anything, i think they drop the ones with insults and "l33t" talk, which is fine; it is their website after all. Same with Amazon.

Anyway, i preffer Rottentomatoes.com for accurate reviews, even though i use IMDB for specific information too - soundtracks, cast lists and so.

You can find pretty harsh reviews on JCVD movies if you browse them :)

That's why i google

[Dr.Opveter]

I usually just google something like: product user review bad, to figure out if it might be a bad idea to buy the product i'm interested in
In this case: http://www.google.com/search?q=sony+psp+user+revie w+bad

CNET had some negative reviews up here
First page is filled with score 1 out of 10.

The official word. No, really.

[CJayC]

First of all, the review posted on the Video Game Ombudsman as "Chris Buzan's GameFAQs PSP Review", isn't. While it is indeed a part of the review he submitted, it's been edited down from what was actually posted (and subsequently removed) from GameFAQs.

But more to the point, while some people think GameFAQs is operated by a faceless corporation known only in whispered tones as "CNET", in reality very little has changed from the days in which I ran the site all by myself. GameFAQs receives hundreds of codes, reviews, FAQs, and game saves from contributors every week, and they are all reviewed and approved or rejected by a staff of two, including myself. While we do check every submission that comes to us, we don't always get it right. This is precisely why we have a Contributor Problem report form, so any registered user can report anything we've posted that "slipped by" us.

We review these complaints, determine if they're justified, and if we feel they are, we take appropriate action. That's how our system works, that's exactly how it worked in this case (both times the reviews were posted, they were subsequently reported by site visitors), and we probably remove eight or nine reviews a month out of the few hundred that are posted in this manner. These removals are not influenced by any advertiser or by management, but by our other users.

Of course, since our users are the ones that report problems with reviews, it should come as no surprise that when a review with a low score is posted for a very popular game or system, it will draw more than its fair share of complaints. Likewise, a review scoring "11/10 Best Game Evar!!" won't draw that level of scrutiny, even if poorly written. This is a phenomenon not unique to GameFAQs, but to any community on the Internet or off; those who go against the norm will always receive more attention, and their flaws are much more likely to be pointed out.

To sum up: Did we remove the reviews of Mr. Buzan and others bashing the PSP? Yes. Do we remove similar reviews bashing other systems and games on a regular basis? Yes. Is this whole thing blown way out of proportion? Oh, yes.

Jeff "CJayC" Veasey
Senior Editor, GameFAQs