Aawgh thank you @Cuttlefish , so sweet
Happy belated birthday @ziggy whooohooo!!! Hereās to another year around the sun
Oh thank you @kimshady so kind of you
This is absolutely a red flag. Do not apply for that sit
This. Sitters, especially those who are new, may not realize that itās not just sitters who need reviews. Until theyāve been sitting a while themselves, they may not even themselves routinely check for missing HO reviews. They may not realize theyāre leaving a red flag for other sitters.
Well, Iād probably investigate those missing reviews a bit more. Were they among those sittersā first sits? Had they routinely left reviews for all sits before and after that sit, or are they sort of hit-or-miss reviewers? It could be simply a very unhappy coincidence. If the listing looked good and it were within an easy drive, yeah, Iād at least apply. Itās a short sit. And if it turned out the sit was actually good, Iād include in my review something like, āNot sure why previous sitters havenāt reviewed this lovely sit, but rest assured itās a good sit.ā
Aww shucksā¦I was hoping for the usual Carlaā¦ālet me look into it and get back to you gigā¦ā
To be honest, I didnāt realise until quite a way in that I should be ensuring I get HO reviews and I think this was a huge part of it. Those sits were all done in my first year on platform and I was completely unaware that HO reviews mattered.
Fully acknowledge that being located in London meant that I was never short on interested partiesā¦location makes such a big difference, as does a really good profile. I think those two things carried us far coupled with diligence around making sure my HSās were truly set up for success and wanted to be there
Hi all, I did message the HO, but didnāt end up sitting. It got to last minute for both of us. I kept the topic friendly:
" Hi ____! Thanks for the info-- FYI I do a due diligence check of reviews. I saw you left a nice review for a former sitter. Any ideals why your past sitters reviews are all blank? A system glitch? If so, have you checked with THS to help all parties get and sign up for sits your future need? Thanks "
The HO said it wasnāt a glitch just found getting review to be inorganic. She offered to try to put me in contact with a prior sitter, but we ran out of time. Just sharing how it ended, because the topic generated lots of interest and different perspective.
Safe sitting wishing to all!
Please donāt make assumptions about me or anyone here ā it takes away from the friendliness of our forum.
As a busy New Yorker, even a 2 day sit is a great opportunity to get away.
@GentleSitter, inorganicā¦as in artificial? Huh. I mean, certainly before blind reviews, a sitterās review could be written to avoid retaliation. And even now people dislike leaving one that isnāt positive. But unless she was telling her sitters, āIām happy to leave you a review, but you donāt need to bother to leave me oneā, it still seems like a fairly big coincidence that none of four would have just done so on their own as a matter of course.
Interesting! Thanks for updating!
Hello @HelloOutThere Iām sorry for not having more info just now. I will ask for more details when I next connect with the wider team. For more pressing issues we try and pass on information quicker but for general information Membership Services recommends reaching out directly.
Wow, I didnāt realize former membersā reviews donāt show. That shouldnāt happen for either HOs or sitters. It partially defeats the purpose of having reviews!
Iām not clear on when they show or not. I think THS folks said if someone requests their info removed, then THS is obligated to remove it, under GDPR or such. But some former membersā reviews do show, because I have a review from an inactive member ā I think that means theyāve not renewed, but I donāt know how long their reviews are retained. Maybe @Carla can tell us, because I seem to remember her answering some version of this Q before.
Even if it could be anonymised it would help. Like, the username changes to āInactive memberā or something. Good to know youāre still seeing some.
We have one previous host who, sometime after our sit, must have completely cancelled her membership and now shows as āFormer memberā That host did not review us so we have no way if knowing if her review would have been removed or not. Personally I see no reason to remove them from the sitter page as the host has anonymity when their name is replaced by āFormer hostā Why should the sitter lose a well earned review? Iād be interested to hear from other sitters if theyāve had reviews removed when a host cancels completely. We have several reviews still showing from hosts who been long āinactiveā but not fully cancelled. That appears to be a different status.
I have that too, Anna in Groningen in August last year. The difference with other reviews is that her name is not linked from my profile.
On my past-sits page, this HO shows as an āinactive pet parentā
In my inbox, I cannot see my correspondence with them anymore. Annoying, but it does not really matter, we agreed a return sit this summer by Whatsapp.
Hello @Maggie8K & @HelloOutThere
The wonderful @Therese found out some more information from Membership Services:
If a member becomes inactive (membership expires and not yet renewed), all reviews will be visible on the other memberās profile/listing. Many members do request for their details to remain on the website (albeit dormant) past the 2-year compliance period.
If a member shows as āformer memberā - as @Maggie8K mentions, these are members who have asked for all their details to be removed under GDPR compliance.
In this case, as the written review falls within this data compliance, the review is also deleted. However, the star rating will remain. Unfortunately, the written review disappears, and we can understand the frustration but it is due to being GDPR compliant.
I hope that helps clarify things for you. Any individual concerns about reviews, inactive or former members that appear on your account please reach out to Membership Services as they can log in to your account and give you more information.
Going to screenshot all my reviews and keep them as a back up in case this happens to me.