Taking Feedback/Suggestions for Service Reviews

user reviews what???? tbh thats really weird like im not a product just reviewing psas before they go up would be enough

on previous forums I've been on - user ratings have actually been more or less accurate from my perspective. Granted, there is a case of someone who abused the rating system to attack one person who gave them a neutral review - but more or less I, personally, don't really care on whether or not we have user ratings? I dont know, it seems like something that's a little strange to get up in arms about - much like you can disprove a PSA about yourself, you can probably disprove any 'negative' ratings left behind on your account if it's something as ridiculous as someone not liking a picture you did for them. even in that case, i'd much rather have ratings be reserved for interactions involving some kind of transaction (trade/$$/etc) where it'd be neat to KNOW if the person I'm trading with is trustworthy or not. It'd be a little ridiculous getting rated because you didn't fulfill a forum game prompt fast enough or smth lmao.

but honestly, I think service reviews should stay. Just moderate them a little more and make the guidelines a little more strict maybe? Im not going to lie that it is mildly annoying seeing PSAs about people that relate ONLY to forum game prompts not being fulfilled or whatever. Give special tags or categories or something that can help people filter out PSAs relating to the places they visit. For example, I never touch forum games so why should I care about a PSA about someone who keeps claiming people and not fulfilling their half?

Or have it be somewhat like artist-beware where they have a certain guideline on how to submit bewares that YOU have to be an affected party, the beware is COMPLETELY unbiased, w/e else it was. 

Honestly, Although I'm not a big fan of the service reviews forum, I believe it has the possibility of being a better option than individual user reviews, User reviews seem extremely personal and subjective, and would require a lot less evidence to incriminate someone than a PSA would.

If the service reviews forums was properly moderated like it was supposed to, according to the rules, then it could be the helpful place it was intended to be. Unfortunately, I believe its more so the lack of moderation here that makes it seem like a drama pool. Personal attacks, passing negative comments, and overall non-informational replies (Things that, according to the rules, are not allowed) are turned a blind eye to. Not to mention the occasional 'PSA' that wouldn't be considered a service review at all. 

PSAs being kept in a forum as opposed to bulletins are helpful, because they reach a lot of people quickly. And, in the case of things like mass scamming, can very quickly put an end to it, bulletins are often only seen by the people subscribed to those who posted the bulletin. 

The BJD thing brings an idea to mind since this is something I've seen on one of the big BJD forums marketplaces, and forgive me if this was mentioned before but:

How hard would it be (legit question not sarcastic) to have a form that you have to fill out, instead of a general Topic post box, when submitting in the Service Reviews section?

You could have a couple ones to choose from, such as Buyer Beware (for transactions that are shady or fishy, but not solid enough for a full PSA), Illegal Misconduct PSA (for accounts such as those of minors ordering or trading NSFW themes or pedophiles WITH PROOF), Trade or Sale PSA, Commission and Customs PSA, Art Theft and Stolen Characters PSA, and Forum Games PSA.  I saw someone suggest a filter function, and that would work well with this. So if you are looking to commission someone you could view only the Commission and Customs PSAs and see if they've had any issue. (I know I have seen a couple where an artist might be OK to deal with when buying a character from them, but they drop communication or do not deliver customs or commissioned art)  Then a user would fill in a blank form such as:

Username: (Username of the person the PSA is about)

Alternative Accounts: (For filling in usernames from other sites for the same person)

Location of Transaction: (User would put in where this occurred, such TH, FA, DA, etc. Could make it a drop down and select type thing, or a fill in the blank)

Start Date of Transaction:

End Date of Transaction: (if left blank, would mark the topic as Ongoing, if filled in, would make it as Completed)

Type of Transaction: (User would input what the transaction was for, such as Character sale, Specifics on the commission ordered, or failing to fulfill a claim)

Screenshots: (User would link or upload, whichever is easier to do, screen shot proof of the transaction/issue)

Relevant Links: (Such as to auctions, those sites that save snapshots of websites, etc)

General Comments: (User could input explanation here. Could do a word limit, to encourage people to be short and precise and unemotional.)

Then you could have a button, instead of leaving comments, where people who have had similar or the same issue with the user mentioned can go in and "Add to PSA" where they would be given the same form and it would post it as a reply to the original PSA. A search function would also be good, so people could search the username of whoever they were wanting to post a PSA for, so they can just add to an existing one and cut down on possible duplicates for users who have a lot of transaction issues.  Then you could have a mod keeping an eye on the forum and either require a mod approval for replies (more work) or have them go through and check them periodically to insure  the forms are filled out with some level of accuracy (ie someone doesn't post "This account is a 16yr old buying and drawing p0rn for peOple amd shOULD beBANNed!!121!!" without screen shots to prove the claim) both the main post and the replies.

I feel that would cut down on a LOT of drama as it wouldn't be a general forum for people to talk, and more  "Here are the facts of the transaction, you decide for yourself if it is ok or not". With the open comment system everyone and their mother feels the need (myself included sometimes) to reply really unnecessary things like "Man that sucks" to "OMG THEY ARE HORRID THEY DESERVE HELL".  This could help, too, with the huge age variant we have here.  While not all people underage are immature, and not all people over are mature, different age groups will handle and reply to things differently in a general sense. A Younger person is more likely to be impulsive and reply more emotionally then someone who is older and has learned to step back before they go off.  Giving someone a blank box to type whatever, whenever, can lead to people who are going to be more impulsive and rash to  react before they've gotten a chance to think.  At best it is irrelevant, at worst it starts shit.

If you really wanted to go more indepth, you could have a page function like DOA has. (had? it's been a while since I've been on there) TH users who seem to be avoiding PMs or thread replies could be paged (Maybe a stickied thread where people could post?) and that would trigger a message at the top of said users website that basically yells at them (and is unable to be closed) that they are being paged by a user.  It could give users who are unsure if they are being ignored a way to try and ping the person before just posting a PSA about them.

Sidenote: I agree with most everyone that I see - I am VERY opposed to the idea of the review ratings beside usernames! It is very easy for that to be abused, especially with a larger minor population then I feel most BJD forums would have. As seen with some PSAs there are younger people who just haven't gotten to the point where they realize their comments can have real world consequences.  This could lead to people being rated low because "OMG they wouldn't accept my trade they are HORRIBLE" (<- on both sides of the age line, tbh) and those would be harder to moderate. It could also lead those who have no reviews to be viewed more skeptically then those with ratings at all (for example a lot of people I know won't buy from new sellers on places like Ebay because they don't want that risk.).

Hopefully this makes sense? ^^;;; and hopefully this doesn't double post cause this is a big post x.x

I've been looking through the comments and I second LitaRutherford's suggested form. It encourages fact-checking and at the same time doesn't require as much moderation and checking as a normal forum post would. 

Normal forum post PSAs vary in organization because of the individual people writing them, and that would take more time to go through to find what's needed to judge it as a plausible PSA. A form like that would keep everything streamlined and concise so that any implemented mods will know where to check for the required info instead of scrolling all over the place for what might not be there in the first place.

i think user reviews would be really weird for people who dont post in the forums/trade characters. toyhouse is primarily an adopts site but some people do just use it for character storage, not for trading/selling characters, and im worried about its impact. like, you can use all the features directly on your account page by yourself... you can write your own comments, worlds, characters, links, etc., and i think it'd be really strange to suddenly add a feature entirely dependent on your interactions with others, especially for ppl who don't use the forums.

i also wildly don't like the idea of blocked users being able to make reviews, although i do understand why (so that you can't block everyone you had a bad interaction with and not receive bad reviews). but it does feel very antithesis to how toyhouse handles blocking in general - the blocking feature on the site has really made me feel safe and secure, and i really don't like the idea of opening up an avenue for blocked people to happily tear into someone in a public space that everyone will see when sending pms, posting on certain forums, etc. again, i get its purpose, i just... i really don't feel comfortable doing it. 

i don't do a lot of trades/sales at all though so my opinion might be somewhat irrelevant. 

EDIT i also feel like it'd be a large code undertaking when i'd rather see actual features of the site be worked on first... if the psas truly are unsalvageable then the entire forum can just be deleted and have that be that. i would much rather see the link revamp, for example, come before an optional review feature, if that makes sense? i know they're both optional but one's more aligned to the purpose of the site (character interaction/character storage) and one's a bit further away (providing context for people doing sales/trades).