Speaking of libel.... what about restaurant/business reviews?

[ny_mariposa]

I have been looking into doing a review site for local businesses. Something to work on in my down time between paying clients. A place where people can post about their experiences (good or bad) with a particular establishment. I know if I have a particularly good experience with a restaurant I want to share it.

Yahoo has reviews... which is where I found a local restaurant which I loved. So I wanted to expand on that but make it specific to my local area.

There are a few ways I could do this... only post good reviews? Post complaints only if their done constructively? Reject outright slamming of a business? Allow any and all reviews, good or bad? After all, the point is to find the best in the area and support local businesses.

Am I setting myself up to be sued even if I don't do the actual posting and just provide the forum for which someone can post?

I see a lot of sites that allow people to speak their mind.

Perhaps I should be asking a lawyer instead of this forum, but I want your thoughts.

[babushka99]

Its your opinion. You should be able to express it freely. Some times that is the problem, too much law and lawyers.

If you devise some kind of a 'rating' 5 stars being the highest and 1 star the lowest, and also, categories in which rating is given, service, cleanliness, food, etc. I am sure you would have nothing to worry about.

[Alexa Smith]

I think you can put a legal disclaimer up saying that all comments are the reviewers' personal opinions and that the site doesn't endorse any statements made by third parties, or whatever. In the event of "trouble", I'd think you'd get a lawyer's letter before a lawsuit, anyway, so you'd have some warning that it might be a good idea to remove something. Probably not a huge deal, really?

[Martin Luxton]

Originally Posted by ny_mariposa

There are a few ways I could do this... only post good reviews? Post complaints only if their done constructively? Reject outright slamming of a business?

If you are going to do this I don't see any point in doing a review site in the first place. It just looks like an advertising feature.

On the other hand, if you want to let people say what they think you're going to have to do some heavy duty moderation.

If you're looking for a model, here's an example review page from London Eating. Bear in mind that the UK is much less litigious than your country.

1880 at The Bentley Kempinski London - French Restaurant Review, Online Booking and Information

Martin

[jendoe]

I'm not a lawyer, but I would think that if you personally review or moderate the comments, you would incur MORE liability. Because you've essentially looked at them and said, "these are ok."

Just a thought!

[ny_mariposa]

I like that sample. Thank you. That's kind of what I had in mind, although far more complex than what I would be starting out with. The idea came when I was looking for a specific type of restaurant. When I did a search, I found listings as well as some that had reviews on Yahoo. Upon reading those reviews, I was able to choose which restaurant to try... and it ended up not being the one I had initially picked.

The experience was wonderful and I wanted to shout from the rooftops how great the food and service was. So I thought it would be nice to provide a place where people could do just that. Review restaurants in the local area. If it's fantastic... let us know! If it stinks... tell us why. (I worry about that part, which is why I asked.)

Granted, it's not a new concept as I've seen a few sites out there, but most seem pretty weak and not regularly updated or maintenanced.

The monitization would be to solicit local advertisers once I got a solid site with decent traffic.

[GarrieWilson]

Don't moderate as it could increase your liability.

Setup a system much like Amazons.

Garriee

[JohnMcCabe]

You may want some moderation. You can state upfront that you will moderate for offensive language, personal attacks, etc. but not for honest opinions.

One idea to think about including is allowing the restaurant being reviewed the chance to respond, especially to bad reviews.

And if you end up getting meals comped, make sure you state that the free meal does not guarantee a favorable review - or any review at all. If you are going to run a review site, you do not want to look like a paid shill. [Kind of like most of the so-called affiliate review sites where the star ratings only tell you how the commission rate and payout terms rank. You want to avoid this.]

[MichaelHiles]

It isn't automatically libel just because a statement is disparaging or unflattering.

Libel means that it's FALSE.

So many people get confused about this, they scream libel libel when they read something that is unkind or unflattering. It's only libel and actionable if it's FALSE.

The court test to determine if something is defamatory is that it is FALSE. If it's true, then it's not defamation, and therefore not actionable. Of course, it still costs money to establish this in discovery.

[jakesellers]

Of course then you're left trying to decide what a court might find true or false. Somebody posts 'I got food poisoning and had to go to hospital' 'Waiter spit in my food' 'Pork tasted like cat meat' is it true/false, who's responsible?

[Vikuna2009+]

If you go into Google maps and type in restaurants, you will find tons of reviews, both good and bad. don't think they are moderated but I could be wrong.

[AmyBrown]

Yelp has an API so you wouldn't need to reinvent the wheel if your area is covered. If you go a different direction I'd still look at their terms of service to see what works for them.

Getting Started | Yelp for Developers

[MichaelHiles]

Originally Posted by jakesellers

Of course then you're left trying to decide what a court might find true or false. Somebody posts 'I got food poisoning and had to go to hospital' 'Waiter spit in my food' 'Pork tasted like cat meat' is it true/false, who's responsible?

Of course, therein lies the rub.

Food, being subjective, cannot be really adjudicated according to taste. If the reviewer thought the pork tasted like cat meat, then all the person making the claim has to do is prove that 1) they've eaten pork at the restaurant, and 2) they've eaten cat meat. And that's pushing it to extremes.

The hospitality business accepts a certain level of personal taste and opinions because it goes with the territory. Heck, sites like TripAdvisor.com contain all manner of reviews for hotels & resorts, etc... some of the reviews are downright terrible.

Suing someone over their opinion generally doesn't get too far in any court case.

Suing your customers is generally a bad idea for any business.