I’m reviewing our Tester Guide at the moment to see how we can make it clearer for new users who are interested in becoming testers.
One line I’d especially like feedback on is this:
“If we feel that your reviews are well written, honest and informative”
If you were a new user hoping to become a tester, how would you interpret that?
What kind of review would you choose to submit? How long would it be, and what sort of information would you include?
We treat submitted reviews as a kind of audition. In other words, if we send you a free product, we’d expect the review you write for it to be of a similar standard to the reviews you’ve already submitted.
We do often see very short reviews from people applying to test, and I’d really like to understand whether our guidance is clear enough
“If we feel that your reviews are a well written, honest and informative account of your experience with the product, be that good, bad, middling or mixed”
I think people skim read a lot so don’t realise you can be critical of a product and still eligible to be a tester.
Whilst I do think it’s important to have a comprehensive guide to testing, I also think a quick start guide would help, particularly one that urges people not to rush and write 10 reviews as fast as they can
I think the wording is already clear, well it is to me anyway.
The problem lies with people either not bothering to read it or thinking it somehow doesn’t apply to them … a bit like the forum rules. I’ve seen a number of extremely short reviews and I don’t feel that they’re at all helpful because you simply can’t explain why a product did or didn’t work for you in just a couple of short sentences. Also think there are some people who just quickly dash off a dozen reviews simply to get on the tester list.
I have been on other sites (beauty product related) in the past where a review had to consist of certain details and be of a required length in order to be submitted as a review and be published. I can understand you not wanting too many regulations though because it can put people off writing reviews.
I like @Calie suggestion of a quick start guide, I think it would be really helpful to people.
Is it perhaps worth adding a line about reviews should not be brief?
I know review lengths will vary - some products are simpler than others in terms of design/function etc, but the volume of reviews with only a few lines is still clearly a misunderstanding if they are being submitted by folk who want to be testers.
I would replace “well written, honest and informative” with “helpful”: the former could sound a bit judgemental, the latter is more what you’re aiming for. If a review isn’t helpful? Well, then it’s not helpful. No quality control required
I think that it would be easier if there was like a list of areas that should be hit, like power, how easy it is to use and clean, features you liked etc ( a template or push the user towards covering certain areas). make it clear what constitutes a good review.
Ive seen many reviews that are written like a short story covering the persons entire day that is irrelevant to the item, like mentioning the item arrived in a discreet brown box, was delivered quick. Its not relevent to the item but to LH as a brand which is good but thats for google reviews/ trustpilot.
and also people who go overboard like, “the postman delivered the item on a rainy tuesday morning, I was so excited for this item to arrive” fluff to make a review longer tends to people me off if I have to read info unrelated
I think I was one who stayed off with too shorter of a review. I thought the information was necessary and informative with out ‘dribbling on’ just to make a word count.
I have since endeavoured to increase the reviews I have submitted to not be so straight to the point but still include the honesty and experience in a different way to how I normally would speak.
I’m not sure if these reviews have made the cut for being acceptable or not but I still hope other who were looking to purchase or were unsure would now have a better understanding or gauge on the products.
I like many may have thought initially when new to the forum that they may flow freely to any. I definitely understand why they don’t, I still hold out hope that one day my reviews would be seen as what is needed to be able to submit a tester review.
I would definitely say a couple of things to make it easier but you will still get people asking.
My misunderstanding when I started was that I could only write positive reviews. If something didn’t work for us, we didn’t say anything. We would only write ones that we felt were good products.
In then end, all opinions matter.
Next I would say, you are not writing a porno. Give details but not rude stories.
I agree with most of what has been said all ready and that what you have is good and to the point. The reviews need to be about the toy quality and the experience users have had with them without reading like a porn story.
I don’t think it should be changed but adding something about AI not being used is a must.
“If we feel that your reviews are well written, honest and informative”
Has exactly the context needed in our opinion. If possible testers can’t be bothered to read though and stick to the guidelines then maybe they are not tester material.
Everyone writes reviews differently so it’s good to have different styles from all over the world but rules are rules
I really like this. When I’m writing a review I sometimes find myself almost falling in to a tick box format that can be fine, but is nothing better than fine. What I have to ask myself is what would I find helpful if I was looking to buy that product?
This would make the difference between me spending money, or moving on. Helpful reviews by their very nature will be well written.
I think the Guide is very well detailed and has everything you need
A pop up when new users join the forum, saying something along the lines of have you read the forum rules? or 6-8 rules you have to tick? It’s becoming extremely common for people thinking it’s that type of forum for meeting people. And then when moderators comment or edit something, saying I didn’t know that [1] - I wasn’t aware of the rules etc
Personally I don’t have a problem with the wording.
It is flexible enough to allow you to assess things but also encourages people to use their own ‘style’ when writing a review. Whilst reviews need to provide factual information about the good/bad I think the best ones have a bit of individuality to them.
I do agree that making clear not to use AI is worth adding - not that it is easiest thing to weed out.
I think the wording is fine, but like the idea of adding about no AI
Maybe also a note making it clear that being chosen as a tester is a privilege and not guaranteed - it feels like a fair few new people join expecting to get freebies just because they’ve signed up and ask for them (could only be me thinking this though )
A quick guide, or top tips could be useful for new members who are just wanting to test without reading the long guide.
Seems clear to me. You’ve already got info on there about what you’d like included in a review, maybe even give a template with an outline of questions for them to consider answering to help encourage them to write more than just a sentence?
Extra navigation is a good shout @Ian_Chimp, I know when I joined, I read the first part of the Guide and thought that was it. I then had questions[1] and until I read further down and found the FAQ’s. From my experience It was very complicated when I joined. It was a learning curve for sure. Anything that helps new users is great - Just like your Sandbox and older threads
And which is why I think new users, then post threads asking questions ↩︎
Because it isn’t about making the detailed guide obsolete, it’s just about making it more accessible to people who maybe can’t absorb all the info in one go. There is a lot of (great and necessary) detail in the guide but things can get lost. A good example is the point about not using AI to write the review. There is a whole section in the how to write great reviews bit. But people have mentioned it quite a lot in this thread like it needs to be on the first page. But you can’t have every detail everywhere.
So a quick reference guide could either work to cover the key points to make the guide more manageable to digest or as more of a tick list (have I done all these things?)
It would just need to be something like
address
write 10 reviews
Don’t be too erotic, don’t use AI to write the whole thing
Talk about your experience with the product
Read the posts properly
Answer to the most asked question
Now go read the full guide
Also, if it clearly says you need to write 10 reviews right at the top, that may dissuade some of the people who just want free stuff
The Mantric one is great! A couple more like that one and you’ll be good to go 
)
I’m not sure how a shortcut version helps anyone.