Reviews: How good is good enough?

[El Gordo]

There are escort's whose reviews are perfect, or nearly so. For example Alex (Irish) has 127 reviews, all of them "very happy", with the exception of one guy two years ago who was merely "fairly happy". At the other end of the spectrum, there was one lady, now retired, who worked here for several years and collected almost 50 reviews, negative on average once the dodgy ones are discounted. The vast majority of escorts are somewhere in between. Most of my favourite escorts have received a neutral or negative review at some point in their careers.

When you look at the reviews of an escort you are thinking of visiting, how good do they have to be? Or, put differently, how bad would they have to be to put you off? For purposes of this thread, just ignore ratted reviews or reviews from guys with only one or just a few of them.

There's a reason I'm asking this, which some of you may have guessed. When I started El Gordo's Guide to Reliable Escorts in 2009 an escort who had two "very happy" for every "fairly happy" would have made the list. Even though I increased the list from 50 to 100 it has got to the point where escorts with seven "very happy" for every "fairly happy" don't make it. Personally, I'd have no hesitation to visit an escort with reviews like that. I think it's time to do something about this, but I'm not sure where to put the cutoff. Now, when I'm planning to spend my own money I put a fair amount of work in and read the reviews carefully. Some I will pay a lot of attention to and some I'll dismiss entirely. Also, I pay more attention to the text than the ratings. But for the guide I need something less subjective and less labour intensive. In short, I need a number.

So, when are good reviews good enough?

[simplesimon]

Wrong Section

[El Gordo]

Not really.

[samlad]

No, I think this is good for General Chat. Although it is about El Gordo's Guide (based on reviews) it would be good to know generally what people think about this as it relates to peoples' expectations of their appointments, which in turn affects the standards of their reviews.

I'm a lot more involved in the reviews lately than I have been since I started working here, and as we all know, there's been a few dodgy ones flushed out (and I will continue to pry if people have any more information of course, thanks to those that do let me know!). We have had certain people asking if they are okay to write a 'War and Peace'-esque 'journal' as their reviews and others complain about an escort with many 'probablies' and 'I reckons' in the review and half-arsed information. There are escorts (and clients) getting involved in circles of fake reviews and leaving bad reviews to try and wean out the competition.

I think in essence, your list is a good idea and I really do have to empathise you and add that it is so damn difficult to find some level ground on this one, especially given the factors that I've mentioned above. A lot of people seem to focus more on the extreme ends of the spectrum; either put the escort on a pedastal or completely condemn them; there's very rarely an inbetween, more so lately.

[mellors]

I dont envy you El Gordo. I really dont know how you can put a number on it, reviews are so subjective. If an escort had two reviews from reviewers i took note of i would consider seeing that escort. On the other hand one of my favourite ladies who has been here for quite awhile,doesnt have that many reviews, just doesnt seem to attract reviews. So where the cut off is i wouldn't like to guess.Not much help.

[Lola Massages]

What about taking in consideration also from whom the reviews are coming?
Not in the same way as the badges though

For example, a “very happy” rating given by a big time reviewers who also had a few less then perfect experiences, may be worth a lot more then a “very happy” given by reviewers who only have one or few reviews OR reviewers who constantly mark all their reviews in the same way. There are of course people with a few reviews who are just very careful who they see and they prepare a long time in advance for each appointment but in reality, people like these are very very rare and most reviewers learn and grow in a direct proportion with the number of escorts they see.

For any of the below, I would of course disregard all the reviewers with any ratted reviews. Also, both options below would be calculated only on the escorts that make your list with the current criteria (i.e. the ones with very high satisfaction number as you calculated), as to implement a further criteria to be able to see any differences.

Option 1 – Quick option

You can categorise reviewers, based on the number of reviews, here is just an idea, you can make your number different if you want to:

Reviewer Type 1: 1 – 10 reviews
Reviewer Type 2: 11 – 30 reviews
Reviewer Type 3: 31 – 50 reviews
Reviewer Type 4: 51 – 70 reviews
Reviewer Type 5: Over 70 reviews

Seeing with more experience comes a more discerning way of ratting, accord an increased number of points for each reviewer type. So a “very happy” from a RT1 can be for example 1 point, while “very happy” from a RT2 is 2 points, RT3 is 3 points and so on.

Option 2 – Number of reviews and percentage of highest rating in the reviews

This option would also take in consideration the number of reviews, so the RT types apply here too. But also the satisfaction factor for “very happy” cases is taken into consideration. The idea behind that someone with a high number of “very happy” reviews is either very generous (which takes away from the accuracy), either make their homework well (which most often means very few reviews as this type of client doesn’t visit very often, so the overall number is less impacted). In theory, someone who is very rarely very happy, when he is, it does count a lot more then someone who is always happy.

So for example, let’s assume reviewer John has 30 reviews and the percent of the “very happy” reviews is 60%. And reviewer Jack has 70 reviews and the percent of “very happy” reviews is 90%. In Option 1, we gave credit to Jack as being a more prolific reviewer. But in this option, we are afraid that maybe Jack is just a very nice guy, nothing wrong with that but he can affect the ratings by doing so and we also look to factor his generosity somehow.

So, as a suggestion (numbers can be again manipulated how you think fit):

RT1 (1 – 10 reviews):
No extra points for satisfaction factor percentage (too few reviews to judge)

Any other RT:
0% - 50% “very happy” = 2 extra points
51% - 80% “very happy” = 1 extra point
81% or more = no extra points

Going back to that example, John would be a RT2, so his “very happy” reviews would count as 2 points. Jack would be a RT4, so his “very happy” reviews would count as 4 points. But John would also get some discerning credit based on the percentage of his happy reviews – 1 extra point. Jack’s reviews would get no more extra points, as the percentage is bigger then 81%.

Advantages (both options):

Clients can be encouraged to review more, so they would know a review from them is more powerful in deciding who is on the list.

Disadvantages (both options):
- If top reviewers only visit certain type of escorts, it would make it very difficult (but not impossible) for any escorts that don’t match the preferred type of those top reviewers to be on the list.
- You also need to permanently check the review count of reviewer, to ensure they haven’t gone to a superior category and if they did, to update the old scores of the escorts reviewed too.
- A lot of extra work.

[El Gordo]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I already do a crude form of Option 1. Reviewers with 1-6 reviews count as 0 and reviewers with 7 or more count as 1. I don't really believe that having a very high number of reviews makes a reviewer's opinion more reliable, but having a very low number does make it more likely the review is fake. It would certainly be possible to do something more sophisticated than what I am doing currently, but I'm not sure it would make much difference.

Option 2 is interesting, but there is are some problems with it. Beyond the ones you mentioned, there's the fact that a small number of reviewers are very picky. Some of those seem to me, based on reading the text of their reviews, to be somewhat crazy. Since the vast majority of reviews are "mostly happy", Option 2 would give a lot of weight to a small number of reviewers who may not really be trustworthy.

[Lola Massages]

I already do a crude form of Option 1. Reviewers with 1-6 reviews count as 0 and reviewers with 7 or more count as 1. I don't really believe that having a very high number of reviews makes a reviewer's opinion more reliable, but having a very low number does make it more likely the review is fake. It would certainly be possible to do something more sophisticated than what I am doing currently, but I'm not sure it would make much difference.

Again, the inflation of reviews may be a problem. If there are so many reviews and you still calculate with the old criteria, of course you will get too many escorts with the same scores. Suggestion, either increase the limit from 7, and/or ad just one or two more categories with more points. The examples from my previous post are just examples, you can be much more conservative with the figures.

Option 2 is interesting, but there is are some problems with it. Beyond the ones you mentioned, there's the fact that a small number of reviewers are very picky. Some of those seem to me, based on reading the text of their reviews, to be somewhat crazy. Since the vast majority of reviews are "mostly happy", Option 2 would give a lot of weight to a small number of reviewers who may not really be trustworthy.

The fact that a small numbers of reviewers are very picky, I wouldn’t see as a problem because they are just a small number, they cannot influence the overall results too much.

Unless I would have the possibility to pull myself the data from all reviews and make a comparative analysis, there is no way for me to know that most reviews are “fairly happy”. But think about it, isn’t that supposed to be the norm? If you presume that most ratings should be “very happy”, you also presume that most escorts are reliable, and this would render your list pointless.

[john connor]

when i am checking reviews of a girl if she has more than 3-4 red dots i will avoid unless they are all from first time reviewers.
i really only hold weight to more seasoned reviewers and i also cross reference reviews by other members of escorts we have both visited. if they relate similar info to me taking into account personal preferences and chemistry aside then i tend to hold their reviews in higher standing.
keep up the good work as the reviews aspect of this board in invaluable to sort out the good from the bad.

[n73]

What about taking in consideration also from whom the reviews are coming?
Not in the same way as the badges though

For example, a “very happy” rating given by a big time reviewers who also had a few less then perfect experiences, may be worth a lot more then a “very happy” given by reviewers who only have one or few reviews OR reviewers who constantly mark all their reviews in the same way. There are of course people with a few reviews who are just very careful who they see and they prepare a long time in advance for each appointment but in reality, people like these are very very rare and most reviewers learn and grow in a direct proportion with the number of escorts they see.

For any of the below, I would of course disregard all the reviewers with any ratted reviews. Also, both options below would be calculated only on the escorts that make your list with the current criteria (i.e. the ones with very high satisfaction number as you calculated), as to implement a further criteria to be able to see any differences.

Option 1 – Quick option

You can categorise reviewers, based on the number of reviews, here is just an idea, you can make your number different if you want to:

Reviewer Type 1: 1 – 10 reviews
Reviewer Type 2: 11 – 30 reviews
Reviewer Type 3: 31 – 50 reviews
Reviewer Type 4: 51 – 70 reviews
Reviewer Type 5: Over 70 reviews

Seeing with more experience comes a more discerning way of ratting, accord an increased number of points for each reviewer type. So a “very happy” from a RT1 can be for example 1 point, while “very happy” from a RT2 is 2 points, RT3 is 3 points and so on.

Option 2 – Number of reviews and percentage of highest rating in the reviews

This option would also take in consideration the number of reviews, so the RT types apply here too. But also the satisfaction factor for “very happy” cases is taken into consideration. The idea behind that someone with a high number of “very happy” reviews is either very generous (which takes away from the accuracy), either make their homework well (which most often means very few reviews as this type of client doesn’t visit very often, so the overall number is less impacted). In theory, someone who is very rarely very happy, when he is, it does count a lot more then someone who is always happy.

So for example, let’s assume reviewer John has 30 reviews and the percent of the “very happy” reviews is 60%. And reviewer Jack has 70 reviews and the percent of “very happy” reviews is 90%. In Option 1, we gave credit to Jack as being a more prolific reviewer. But in this option, we are afraid that maybe Jack is just a very nice guy, nothing wrong with that but he can affect the ratings by doing so and we also look to factor his generosity somehow.

So, as a suggestion (numbers can be again manipulated how you think fit):

RT1 (1 – 10 reviews):
No extra points for satisfaction factor percentage (too few reviews to judge)

Any other RT:
0% - 50% “very happy” = 2 extra points
51% - 80% “very happy” = 1 extra point
81% or more = no extra points

Going back to that example, John would be a RT2, so his “very happy” reviews would count as 2 points. Jack would be a RT4, so his “very happy” reviews would count as 4 points. But John would also get some discerning credit based on the percentage of his happy reviews – 1 extra point. Jack’s reviews would get no more extra points, as the percentage is bigger then 81%.

Advantages (both options):

Clients can be encouraged to review more, so they would know a review from them is more powerful in deciding who is on the list.

Disadvantages (both options):
- If top reviewers only visit certain type of escorts, it would make it very difficult (but not impossible) for any escorts that don’t match the preferred type of those top reviewers to be on the list.
- You also need to permanently check the review count of reviewer, to ensure they haven’t gone to a superior category and if they did, to update the old scores of the escorts reviewed too.
- A lot of extra work.

I'm dizzy !!!