You’ve probably guessed that this was happening right? Companies who want good reviews create fake ones on Yelp, Citysearch, Yahoo, Google, Kayak — even Facebook & Twitter. Well you’re right. It’s called astroturfing. It’s gotten so big that you can now hire companies to write and post fake reviews for your product or service. You can even get them to write fake bad reviews about your competitors.
There’s a very interesting article in today’s New York Times about a crackdown on astroturfing that exposes several companies, including Main Street Host, which is one of those companies people hire to write fake reviews. Main Street Host even went so far as to condemn astroturfing on one of their own blogs, while at the same time they wrote their own fake reviews about their own services, prompting this line from the New York Times article, “Faking reviews often begins with faked reviews of the company faking the reviews.” You just can’t make this stuff up!
So, if you want to know the truth, stick with GMG. No fake reviews here.
Good Morning Gloucester 
A timely article since astroturfing seems to be getting worse. Although the word came much later astroturfing was invented about a week after the first computer account was created and someone realized they could make a second fake account and write themselves emails stating what a wonderful computer nerd they were. The “Well” which was a 1980s computer forum saw the first whole hearted astroturfings when a computer nerd who was losing an argument on the internet (it happens!) would create fake accounts to then add to the argument bolstering his opinion.
One bit of info about the word. Astroturfing is opposite of “grassroots”, that is, that is fake grass. (Astrodome had the first fake grass.) A politician gins up support in an online chat group with fake accounts or a company writes fake reviews of their product, classic astroturf.
The funniest, although they are sad too because they can destroy a restaurant’s reputation, is astroturfing by owners of small businesses. Sometimes a telltale comment and it is exposed that the bar owner is writing a crappy review of the competition across the street.
Yahoo/Yelp type restaurant reviews have to be taken with a huge grain of salt. You can spend the time and check if the person has reviewed other establishments but the paid astroturfers can be very good covering their tracks. So yeah, go with the GMG review. Real reviews, where the rubber meets the road.
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Thanks, Paul, for the etymology. I really should have included it in my post since “astroturfing” is one of the better recently invented Internet-related words. My second favorite would be “tweeps” (your “peeps” who follow you on Twitter).
Mosty I LOVE your story about the Well. It reminded me that someday, I should write a post about when I nearly got arrested for accidentally cursing on the ARPANET during an advanced high school math/computer class in 1972. (Vickie’s not that old. She was a little kid then.)
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You meant to say, “where the rubber DUCK meets the road”, right?
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