The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews • Hacker News Board

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#61

Post by pc86 » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 7:18 PM UTC

Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #43

shippintoboston wrote: post #3

I used to work at Desktop Metal which was (at the time) a pretty small startup here in Boston. When I left, I wrote a pretty negative review on Glassdoor about what I felt was a toxic work environment. At the time I submitted my review, there were probably about 10 reviews for the company. The very next day after my review was posted, about 7 positive reviews popped up. Obviously pretty suspicious behavior, but when…

I've experienced this almost verbatim - put up a factual (at least from my view) account of working with a previous employer, a "warts and all" review. Next week I see about ten 5-star reviews each with a single sentence something like "This is a great place to work!". However, when searching out the low-down on a potential new employer, I only read the one and two star reviews - if they're pretty spurious then I fee…

I've considered making a browser extension where you can click a review to ignore it and have the average ratings recalculate automatically.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#62

Post by m463 » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 7:18 PM UTC

princevegeta89 wrote: post #17

shippintoboston wrote: post #3

I used to work at Desktop Metal which was (at the time) a pretty small startup here in Boston. When I left, I wrote a pretty negative review on Glassdoor about what I felt was a toxic work environment. At the time I submitted my review, there were probably about 10 reviews for the company. The very next day after my review was posted, about 7 positive reviews popped up. Obviously pretty suspicious behavior, but when…

No one trusts these review companies actually. They simply exist to extort entities that get reviewed either to remove negative reviews or promote or even auto-post fake positive reviews. Yelp is a classic example that did this for years.

Talking to some friends who are job-seeking, I do know they check them.

Not so much positive reviews, but negative reviews are believed.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#63

Post by LeafItAlone » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 7:21 PM UTC

paradox460 wrote: post #7

I once worked at a company that started getting a slew of bad Glassdoor reviews. The reviews were real; the company leadership had been making some bad choices and the reviews reflected it. So they sent out messages in the company chatroom, asking people to leave positive reviews.

> So they sent out messages in the company chatroom, asking people to leave positive reviews.

I don’t think this is necessarily wrong, provided there was nothing forcing them to be positive or repercussions for not doing it (or for leaving a negative review).

Most people review things only at the extremes (usually negative) unless they are prompted. That’s why Amazon sends people emails with questions or asking for a review. If a company asks their employees to leave positive reviews, and the employees generally like the place and are willing, that seems OK to me. I’ve lived in apartments that have done this and noticed when looking at reviews for others that they must have done the same.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#64

Post by druvisc » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 7:26 PM UTC

shippintoboston wrote: post #3

I used to work at Desktop Metal which was (at the time) a pretty small startup here in Boston. When I left, I wrote a pretty negative review on Glassdoor about what I felt was a toxic work environment. At the time I submitted my review, there were probably about 10 reviews for the company. The very next day after my review was posted, about 7 positive reviews popped up. Obviously pretty suspicious behavior, but when…

Same is happening to Google Maps.

I and other reviewers had left negative reviews for Cosuno Ventures GmbH as it's an incredibly toxic and horrible place to work in. I received a take-down notice from a German Google Maps review employee saying that Cosuno is claiming it's a false review and they don't know how who am I. Even though I worked at the company for 4 months with the CTO and had responded to the e-mail with documents signed by the CEO and CTO.

They're rocking a 5 star review now. I didn't receive a response from Google and my appeal has been ignored. I still have the company's t-shirt in the countryside.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#65

Post by loloquwowndueo » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 7:41 PM UTC

iambateman wrote: post #25

AlanSE wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So is it basically true that there is no objective information out there anymore, because anyone running a successful site gets corrupted with money?

I’d say Consumer Reports and NYT wire cutter are pretty objective… Their bigger issue is that company quality doesn’t change much from year to year, so the pans that were good in 2019 are probably still good now, which is boring.

Wire cutter is hardly objective - check out their bike lock reviews. Every single recommended product is from Kryptonite.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#66

Post by randycupertino » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 7:50 PM UTC

shippintoboston wrote: post #3

I used to work at Desktop Metal which was (at the time) a pretty small startup here in Boston. When I left, I wrote a pretty negative review on Glassdoor about what I felt was a toxic work environment. At the time I submitted my review, there were probably about 10 reviews for the company. The very next day after my review was posted, about 7 positive reviews popped up. Obviously pretty suspicious behavior, but when…

At a healthcare tech startup I worked at for every negative review we got management made us write three positive reviews. The owners daughter would get all of her friends from college to write more and more positive reviews.

It was so obvious, any fake review written by HR will always have "keep doing what you're doing!" in the "advice to management" section. Like, even a moderately happy employee will actually have something to say in the "advice to management" section. Only a shill will say, "Keep doing what you're doing!"

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#67

Post by IronWolve » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 8:01 PM UTC

pushswap wrote: post #50

I left a review on the BBB, when I was a student, after being promised a gift card for a video interview of a product for one of the large tech companie's PMs. I refused a free trial or some other token offer by a call center employee that the company sent as part of the BBB resolution process. Not long after,the BBB removed my review even though I offered email evidence between the PM and I. I emailed one of their m…

The BBB is geared for companies, if you have an open issue, it becomes a back and forth ping pong match to see who can outlast each other. Companies HR will respond to the BBB update, they wear you out, and it gets closed as resolved.

Its not.

Its utterly useless.

Same goes for some state agencies, file a complaint, but turns into a response back and forth, until someone finally gives up responding, and default closed.

Systems are designed to make you give up and go away.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#68

Post by JohnFen » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 8:02 PM UTC

Libcat99 wrote: post #55

princevegeta89 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if it was driven by a non-profit org I guess

Perhaps a site that included both reviews of companies and (paid) job postings from reviewed companies could survive. Of course misbehaving companies would probably stop spending there, but that might not be a bad thing.

Wouldn't that set up a conflict of interest for the review site? I'd trust such a site even less than normal (and normal is pretty close to not at all).

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#69

Post by JohnFen » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 8:06 PM UTC

AlanSE wrote: post #14

jchw wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, I noticed the exact same thing. Glassdoor is a complete scam, and it has been for as long as I've had a career. I do not even check anymore.

So is it basically true that there is no objective information out there anymore, because anyone running a successful site gets corrupted with money?

It depends on where they get their money, and how devoted to being ethical the place is. Consumer Reports is a good example of how to do this right.

I think it has to be a nonprofit or individual who isn't doing it to make any money, though. If it's a money-maker, you can't trust it.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#70

Post by JohnFen » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 8:09 PM UTC

pyeri wrote: post #52

JALTU wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But those "seven positive" reviews will still show up! When I was calculating the NPS scores at a former job, IIRC you need seven or eight 100% scores to offset one low score. Interesting that's what happened to the Desktop Metal poster.

But (presumably) those seven posters would be motivated by big tech money and thus be identified by some algorithm or the other in that blockchain? And/or you being a genuine reviewer would have a more organic activity across the blockchain with other products too compared to theirs and that will add to the weight?

> (presumably) those seven posters would be motivated by big tech money

Probably not, I think. They're more likely to be employees or friends/family of the company doing it because they were required or asked to.