Author Topic: TripAdvisor hoax  (Read 5138 times)

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Offline Maik

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TripAdvisor hoax
« on: Wednesday, 06 December, 2017 @ 17:57:19 »
Quote
I Made My Shed the Top Rated Restaurant On TripAdvisor
And then served customers Iceland ready meals on its opening night.

Once upon a time, long before I began selling my face by the acre for features on VICE dot com, I worked other jobs. There was one in particular that really had an impact on me: writing fake reviews on TripAdvisor. Restaurant owners would pay me £10 and I'd write a positive review of their place, despite never eating there. Over time, I became obsessed with monitoring the ratings of these businesses. Their fortunes would genuinely turn, and I was the catalyst.

This convinced me that TripAdvisor was a false reality – that the meals never took place; that the reviews were all written by other people like me. However, they're not, of course – they're almost all completely genuine. And there was one other factor that seemed impossible to fake: the restaurants themselves. So I moved on.

And then, one day, sitting in the shed I live in, I had a revelation: within the current climate of misinformation, and society's willingness to believe absolute bullshit, maybe a fake restaurant is possible? Maybe it's exactly the kind of place that could be a hit?

In that moment, it became my mission. With the help of fake reviews, mystique and nonsense, I was going to do it: turn my shed into London's top-rated restaurant on TripAdvisor.
https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/434gqw/i-made-my-shed-the-top-rated-restaurant-on-tripadvisor

Quite amusing!

Offline TonyKath

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Re: TripAdvisor hoax
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday, 06 December, 2017 @ 20:17:02 »
Amazing tale - funny and eye-opening.  Longish read but very well worth it. 

Would I ever trust TA again??!  :blink:

Thanks Maik  :btu:

Tony

Offline Mediterranean Man

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Re: TripAdvisor hoax
« Reply #2 on: Thursday, 07 December, 2017 @ 13:12:34 »
MMMM...Not so sure.
Looks like fake News, reads like fake News, smells like fake News.....
Guess what? 

Offline Maik

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Re: TripAdvisor hoax
« Reply #3 on: Thursday, 07 December, 2017 @ 16:16:40 »
Looks as though TripAdvisor may have removed it but a google search reveal this, which surely suggests the Shed at Dulwich had an excellent rating on TA: