More Credibility for Bad Rentmen Reviews?

[Andy2]

I posted the analysis below as a response in another thread, but on reflection I believe this topic deserves its own thread.

 

Some posters have made the apt observation that many of us give more credit/attention to "bad" Rentmen reviews than to "good" (five star) reviews. The obvious answer to this is that bad reviews raise red flags that ought to be investigated, but there is also a systematic reason why the typical bad review is probably more "credible" than the typical good review. (Thus, some bad reviews are bogus and some good reviews accurate. My point is "on average.") The reasoning has to do with incentives. They are skewed "badly."

 

Rentmen has an incentive to screen out valid as well as bogus negative reviews, as such reviews will tend to drive out some escorts away from advertising on its website (they can focus on BackPage or Men4Rent), thereby depriving Rentmen of revenues. Conversely, Rentmen has much less incentive to screen out bogus as well as valid positive reviews, as such reviews will be good for business.

 

There is a counterpoint: If Rentmen really cares about its reputation and wants to be the "go-to" site where all credible escorts want to advertise, then its people will allow some bad reviews that appear nonbogus, but the website will still have an incentive to scrutinize bad reviews more closely than good reviews. (Indeed, one doubts that Rentmen screens good reviews unless pressed hard by a really irate customer; it will screen many more bad reviews, because the escort being reviewed will tend to complain!)

 

Conversely, the incentives to produce bogus good reviews are overwhelming: Escorts (good or bad) have strong incentives to "prime the pump" by submitting bogus good reviews themselves or via their buddies. Incentives to produce bogus bad reviews are unquestionably tempting (not just unhappy clients but also spurned boyfriends and escort competitors) but are not as overwhelming as the former. Also, escorts can sometimes "tell" who submitted a bad review, and so there are also strong incentives against posting bad reviews that are perfectly valid.

 

Bottom line: Because of the skewed incentives, bad reviews on Rentmen are more trustworthy than good reviews. How much more? Who knows. But at the very least they raise red flags that suggest further investigation (e.g., on this Forum) before proceeding with an appointment.

[+ Keith30309]

I posted the analysis below as a response in another thread, but on reflection I believe this topic deserves its own thread.

 

Some posters have made the apt observation that many of us give more credit/attention to "bad" Rentmen reviews than to "good" (five star) reviews. The obvious answer to this is that bad reviews raise red flags that ought to be investigated, but there is also a systematic reason why the typical bad review is probably more "credible" than the typical good review. (Thus, some bad reviews are bogus and some good reviews accurate. My point is "on average.") The reasoning has to do with incentives. They are skewed "badly."

 

Rentmen has an incentive to screen out valid as well as bogus negative reviews, as such reviews will tend to drive out some escorts away from advertising on its website (they can focus on BackPage or Men4Rent), thereby depriving Rentmen of revenues. Conversely, Rentmen has much less incentive to screen out bogus as well as valid positive reviews, as such reviews will be good for business.

 

There is a counterpoint: If Rentmen really cares about its reputation and wants to be the "go-to" site where all credible escorts want to advertise, then its people will allow some bad reviews that appear nonbogus, but the website will still have an incentive to scrutinize bad reviews more closely than good reviews. (Indeed, one doubts that Rentmen screens good reviews unless pressed hard by a really irate customer; it will screen many more bad reviews, because the escort being reviewed will tend to complain!)

 

Conversely, the incentives to produce bogus good reviews are overwhelming: Escorts (good or bad) have strong incentives to "prime the pump" by submitting bogus good reviews themselves or via their buddies. Incentives to produce bogus bad reviews are unquestionably tempting (not just unhappy clients but also spurned boyfriends and escort competitors) but are not as overwhelming as the former. Also, escorts can sometimes "tell" who submitted a bad review, and so there are also strong incentives against posting bad reviews that are perfectly valid.

 

Bottom line: Because of the skewed incentives, bad reviews on Rentmen are more trustworthy than good reviews. How much more? Who knows. But at the very least they raise red flags that suggest further investigation (e.g., on this Forum) before proceeding with an appointment.

 

I'd agree with all this.

I think the context in which this occurred is important to note. Pre-Rentboy there were text comments that accompanied the RM star reviews and it was much easier to judge the veracity of the review and separate the fakes, flake-clients and the shills. The removal of those created the situation you describe: stars with the initial low ones being removed, apparently without cause.

I suspect that RM doesn't want to open the can of worms of arbitrating escort/client disagreements leaving only the star-system. I've only submitted one one-star review for over 50 different RM guys (which was removed) and I submit the positive ones purely as a courtesy to the companion.

If RM wants anyone to take their ratings seriously, they would re-institute some means by which context can be added to the reviews.

[jimboivyo]

more reason that daddy's review is the clearing house and always will be

 

no system is perfect but this site has been the most consistent throughout the years

[sexymonk]

Good thing to note! But sometimes why care about one or two bad reviews out of 10 ??

[TruHart1]

I'd agree with all this.

I think the context in which this occurred is important to note. Pre-Rentboy there were text comments that accompanied the RM star reviews and it was much easier to judge the veracity of the review and separate the fakes, flake-clients and the shills. The removal of those created the situation you describe: stars with the initial low ones being removed, apparently without cause.

I suspect that RM doesn't want to open the can of worms of arbitrating escort/client disagreements leaving only the star-system. I've only submitted one one-star review for over 50 different RM guys (which was removed) and I submit the positive ones purely as a courtesy to the companion.

If RM wants anyone to take their ratings seriously, they would re-institute some means by which context can be added to the reviews.

The other problem besides no text with Rentmen reviews is that after a certain period of time, and with a certain number of positive reviews, an escort is easily able to get Rentmen to remove most or all negative reviews, regardless of the legitimacy of the negative reviews. For that reason, it is very difficult to judge the truth of any Rentmen reviews. Daddy's is the best but even M4RN's review site, CRUISING FOR ESCORTS: http://www.cruisingforescorts.com/index.php, has more text and better reviews, plus no-shows listed (in red!)

 

TruHart1

[+ harey]

I'd agree with all this.

I think the context in which this occurred is important to note. Pre-Rentboy there were text comments that accompanied the RM star reviews and it was much easier to judge the veracity of the review and separate the fakes, flake-clients and the shills. The removal of those created the situation you describe: stars with the initial low ones being removed, apparently without cause.

I suspect that RM doesn't want to open the can of worms of arbitrating escort/client disagreements leaving only the star-system. I've only submitted one one-star review for over 50 different RM guys (which was removed) and I submit the positive ones purely as a courtesy to the companion.

If RM wants anyone to take their ratings seriously, they would re-institute some means by which context can be added to the reviews.

 

50? You little tramp.

[Andy2]

I'd agree with all this.

I think the context in which this occurred is important to note. Pre-Rentboy there were text comments that accompanied the RM star reviews and it was much easier to judge the veracity of the review and separate the fakes, flake-clients and the shills. The removal of those created the situation you describe: stars with the initial low ones being removed, apparently without cause.

I suspect that RM doesn't want to open the can of worms of arbitrating escort/client disagreements leaving only the star-system. I've only submitted one one-star review for over 50 different RM guys (which was removed) and I submit the positive ones purely as a courtesy to the companion.

If RM wants anyone to take their ratings seriously, they would re-institute some means by which context can be added to the reviews.

 

I agree with Keith, but with one further observation: Wanting to avoid the fate of Rentboy, Rentmen does not want to leave any tracks/evidence that it facilitates sex-for-pay, and so its reviews are entirely sanitized (e.g., "relaxing" ambience, no space even to note the escort kisses).

[rustyrex]

I totally trust reviews, especially if they are from multiple users and say the same thing. I live in small city and this week is the busy week ever for the travelers. We even have the notorious JasonSparks traveling troop coming through.... The bad thing is that one really hot guy has bad reviews. Juanlatinstud, a guy I've had my eye on for a while only has 2.3 out of 5 and that is big stay away sign for me. I've been burned a few times and don't like to waste my hard earned money! Sad weekend too...the one traveler on backpage I tried to hire didn't even respond when I started talking dates and times. Sigh.... then again...backpage isn't all that trustworthy...

[down_to_business]

Unfavorable reviews on Rentmen.com have more credibility to me for the following reason, taken from the websites own policy:

 

"As we build our Review content for each Escort we may decide to withhold an unfavorable review and publish it later when the Escort has more reviews to provide the reader a more balanced, objective perspective"

 

If they withhold negative reviews by choice based on editorial policy, then absolutely..yes.. they have more credibility to me.... not necessarily much more given the source material, but more.

[+ saminseattle]

Aside from not wanting to lose paying advertisers unless there’s clear evidence of fakery, I suspect RM’s other big consideration is that it takes a lot of time and effort to try to sort out the truth, especially if they're trying to do so remotely from Amsterdam. And in a business where people crave anonymity and discretion, it’s sometimes just impossible to know for sure.

 

I saw an ad recently from a fellow named Taylor Grey with 6 excellent reviews and 3 poor reviews. The 1-star reviews apparently had such a negative impact on the guy’s business, that he devoted a whole paragraph to address it in his description, basically claiming that one disgruntled person, who he’d refused to meet with, was submitting a steady stream of bad reviews out of vindictiveness. I find this quite plausible, but it could also be that the 6 excellent reviews are bogus and the 3 bad ones are genuine. Unless the reviewers have a clear track record, I don’t see how RM or potential customers could know the real story.

[Guest Jason317]

The bad thing is that one really hot guy has bad reviews. Juanlatinstud, a guy I've had my eye on for a while only has 2.3 out of 5 and that is big stay away sign for me. I've been burned a few times and don't like to waste my hard earned money!

 

Wish I had seen this review long before I met Juan... he stole my credit and debit card numbers and went on an LA spending spree... ?