The problem there, as I understand it, is that potential sitters will often read a hosts review of other sitters, and vice versa. So if I didn’t leave a review for sitter #2 (as opposed to a deserved negative review), and a prospective sitter sees that the prior sitter left a review for me but I didn’t reciprocate, I could be seen as not caring enough to leave a review.
I for one think this discussion has run its course.
@idocsteve You keep re-hashing the same perspective i.e protecting yourself (at the expense of the community) rather than breaking the patturn once & for all. Most people do not seem to agree with this approach.
I for one agree with @Silversitters In some cases leaving no review is better than writing a fake good review which misleads people. The old saying “ if you have nothing good to say then say nothing” would be appropriate for those who are unable/unwilling to write anything negative even when it is deserved..
In my particular case, many or all of the prior hosts who established the pattern are using this approach, and I’ve read countless posts by hosts and sitters who do not leave a deserved negative for fear of reprisal.
The problem was so bad among the membership base that THS changed the review system to double blind in an attempt to encourage honest reviews.
I gave some honest reviews to hosts, and later saw I was the only one who did so, amongst glowing reviews from others. It doesn’t feel nice, and I don’t know if the community appreciates my sacrifice for them. Hope they do!
Writing nothing is my preferred option if a sit is bad, unless it is very bad, then I do write what happened to warn others.
@idocsteve Exactly why it would have been better for you to leave no review for your last sitter. You felt she was so terrible yet you gave her a glowing 5 review. I am a sitter, but if I was a host I would SO much prefer to discover you left no review (which would raise a red flag for me about the sitter) than a 5* review which misleads me into considering a sub-par sitter and maybe have a bad experience myself- all because you witheld the truth. You seem determined to continue repeating patturns of behaviour you do not like which makes absolutely no sense at all to me. 
Me, and probably every host prior to me that had that same irresponsible sitter that created a pattern that became more difficult for subsequent hosts to break lest they seem to be the unreasonable one. As well as countless hosts and sitters which created a problem so bad that THS initiated a double blind review system to encourage honest reviews long before I created a profile on this platform.
Unfortunately, the problem of fearing retaliation still persists although it’s minimized to some degree.
Just a reminder:
HO’s can’t see missing reviews, it’s like the sit just doesn’t exist, so there is no way to tell if an HO was not happy with a sitter except by reading their honest review of them.
As I understand it, a sitter can see a host’s profile, including reviews left for them by prior sitters, as well as reviews the host has left for prior sitters. In which case if a prospective sitter, after reading the sitter’s review of a host, now checks to see what the host had to say about the sitter, they will notice that no review was left by the host for that sitter.
You’re right. Sitters can infer that a host has not lest a review for a particular sitter when checking a HO’s review history but owners have no way of knowing sitters have missing reviews.
Regarding
IMHO, “clear and factual” is not compatible with blaming. I should perhaps have said “clear, factual, unemotional” and, whenever possible nicely worded.
I read the reviews very thoroughly and find most of them very helpful, I mean the ones written after the blind system was implemented. I do take the reviews I write very seriously and I write enough information to help other sitters make informed choices.
With the blind system I honestly don’t think there’s a real risk of retaliation, there’s always the risk of shooting oneself in the foot if people are not careful with wording and tone.
Let’s say I wrote an honest negative review for our second sitter, something along the lines of <3 stars total>, pointing out that several ornamental plants that we had for years died on her watch, the chicken and rabbit cages were filthy, and the screen door was damaged, and the pool wasn’t cleaned as instructed.
Her reply to that review would be something along the lines of “I did a fantastic job, the hosts are too picky and/or it’s a ton of responsibility that is not described in the listing, way too much for one person, those plants were watered and those cages were clean and the pool wasn’t dirty at all (or I couldn’t keep up with it because it was too much trouble or whatever). That screen door was broken when they left, they’re trying to hold me responsible for it!
So now you’ve got prospective sitters thinking, well we’ve got a sitter with over a dozen 5 star reviews and a relatively new host with 1 review saying all this about the sitter…hmm.. maybe we should steer clear of that listing!
Why risk it? Nothing to gain by leaving a review and starting the cycle of blame. Other than to warn off others? Who come from the same membership base who created the problem by giving this sitter over a dozen 5 star reviews?
It happens. In both directions between hosts and sitters, which is why going to a double blind system does not completely eliminate the problem which is a fear of retaliation by giving an honest negative review.
As a host looking for a sitter, I read the reviews the sitters got. I also read the reviews the sitter writes. It’s helpful and I’m more likely to pay attention when the reviews recieved aren’t consistently perfect, but I try to do it in all cases as part of vetting. If I saw points deducted because cats weren’t particularly friendly, I would avoid the sitter. I look for sittters who “get” cats and understand they are individuals with free will who might not take a liking to every stranger and might some might express affection and even trust differently from others. (Similarly in the sitter role, I look at both sides of the review.)
Video convos are an absolute necessity. While I understand some people feel they are waste of time, a there are things you learn from a face to face conversation that can impact a decision to move forward or not for both parties.
If you’re open to it, as a sitter, I could comment on potential problems of your wording. But I guess that’s not the point here.
I am really interested in this discussion, though. In fact, I opened a thread regarding changing review styles after the blind system
Exactly! In my experience, people are usually more negatively impacted by what they write (be it a review or a response) than by what others write about them. And definitely, emotional, intensely worded messages tend to backfire.
I read several of the replies on your thread as I skimmed through it. In fact, the thread punctuates my point- there were more negative reviews after the double blind review system was initiated, which demonstrates that hosts and sitters are protecting themselves when they fear backlash by leaving a negative review, even if deserved.
The thread doesn’t really go into the issue that hosts and sitters are still hesitant to give negative reviews to some degree even with the blind review system in place.
This very thread that we’re posting on was written by a host who is in that exact situation, they hesitate to so much as dock a star for a sitter with 8 perfect 5 star reviews who could have burned down their house.
Absof**kinglutely!
I keep hearing so many excuses for not leaving honest reviews but ultimately the behaviour you walk pass is the behaviour you accept.
There’s a difference between an excuse for not doing something versus a valid reason for not doing something.
For example:
A person may say that their dog ate their homework and that’s why it’s not ready for class the next day. That’s an excuse, not a reason.
A person may say that they don’t drive 70 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone because they prefer not to get a speeding ticket. That’s not an excuse, it’s a reason.
Reviews are never going to be 100% accurate or fair, for the reasons so many on the forum have already outlined. However, in this case I think it’s absolutely imperative to dock one star for reliable and dock one star for organized because she clearly didn’t follow the HO’s instructions. Furthermore, and more importantly, I must say I am shocked by the number of people in this thread who don’t think leaving an oven on all day is a major issue. I have been a professional pet sitter for 22 years and am now a sitter on THS. When I leave the house, even for an errand or sightseeing, I make sure everything in the kitchen is off. I do this at my own house every time, too, because yes, anyone can be absent-minded so it’s not evidence of a “problem” - but leaving an oven on unattended is a huge safety issue. I would let her know she did that via private message but still give her 4 stars overall for the combination of oversights she made.
By the way, when reviewing someone, would you see neglecting clearly outlined sitter duties as being unreliable or disorganized?
There’s also a difference between opinion and experience.
In our experience (of 50 sits, overall) is that the blind review system works well for both sitters and HOs, when used with integrity and combined with due diligence in assessing best fit.