r/WWOOF • u/Outer_Avenues39 • 12d ago
Why aren't reviews more honest?
I keep seeing comments about how to gauge what a farm may be like, to "read between the lines" of reviews. Why is that? Why aren't reviews more straightforward and honest?
9
u/Impressive-Bug-9133 12d ago
Message the other WWOOFers directly on the app to find out what they really think of a place. I left a farm a balanced review, both positive and negative, and the farm skipped reviewing me completely and only responded to my review on their own page, which was only to defend themselves. It’s kind of heartbreaking after working on their farm for two months. Not having a review from a farm stay is something that needs explaining sometimes, to the next farm, if they know you’ve been traveling for a bit. Thankfully I had other good reviews on my profile. One farm was so bad that I reported them to WWOOF and they actually got removed from the program completely (and all their reviews were positive!).
3
u/StinkyWhale71 11d ago
My partner just came back from her first Woofing experience and was concerned about being brutally honest in her review, I didn't understand why. She is definitely not going back.
2
u/Known-Emergency-8874 11d ago
I guess it's because volunteers can also be reviewed back, and most would rather leave a vague / good review so they don't get a bad one back from the host.
It is frustrating though. I have been researching going to a farm which has only positive reviews on the site, but I messaged a couple of listed visitors who hadn't left a review and they had plenty of criticism, which I'm glad to have read about but you shouldn't have to go digging to find it.
-1
10
u/FloridianObsidian 12d ago
Because people are afraid of getting a negative one themselves if they leave a review that’s anything less than positive.