Reviews nixed or heavily edited?

I realize I'm tempting fate here, but I'm curious whether other people have had reviews rejected or severely edited in the "reviews" section here on Cruise Critic.

I understand the administrators or moderators have to be more careful of what they allow on the review portion of the site because people cannot answer or dispute allegations as they can on the forums.

But out of three reviews I've written for CC, I've had one heavily edited, essentially ignoring my main beef and cutting out a key name, and one rejected entirely (I think because I named a group that was rowdy and detracted from the quality of a cruise; no one ever explained why it wasn't published).

Has anyone else had this problem? I'm a former newspaper editor and have a pretty good idea of what's libelous and what's not, what's fair and what's not. I'm not inclined to write any more reviews for the "review" section. I don't like having my opinions changed or neutered.

I'm happy to put my impressions on the forums and let people respond to them, but I always thought the review section was the easiest place for others to go to see what members thought of a certain ship or cruise.

Jim

I have reviewed all but two of the cruises I taken and my reviews were never edited nor rejected. I do have some negative comments in my reviews.

I've only done one review here, but it was posted just as I submitted it.

None have ever been edited and they are LONG and detailed with mostly objective comments and quantified opinions.

I've submitted a couple of reviews over the years - including some specific negative comments, but have not experienced editing or rejection. Now I'm curious - OP, could you repeat on this thread (as closely as you can recall) whatever negative points you may have included --- I cannot imagine raves being edited or rejected?

I have submitted a number of reviews and none have been edited.

OP, could you repeat on this thread (as closely as you can recall) whatever negative points you may have included --- ?

Sure. The most recent review, from our Norwegian Dawn cruise to the Western Caribbean Jan. 25, included the name of the ship's hotel manager who I thought was particularly unimpressive and unhelpful in her response to our being stuck without a working toilet in our cabin. Her name was removed when the review was published. They also took out my comment that her apology was the least sincere sounding of the dozen we received over the week.

The other problem was a review I wrote after a January 2014 Celebrity Constellation cruise. I mentioned a group of supposed travel agents who accounted for a large percentage of the passengers. Their drunken and rowdy behavior brought down the class level of the cruise a couple of notches. That review was never published at all. I don't see much gain in mentioning any of these names right now. But in both cases, the names made it onto the forum in discussion posts, just not the official "review" section.

Jim

I can see why the moderators might edit reviews which specifically named individuals in a negative way. Broadcasting such personalized negative comments without carefully investigating the facts would be unfair and irresponsible. While not disputing the truth of your comments, they displayed prudence --- after all, these are simply informal, informational opinions and not worth the expenditure of time in verifying facts.

I have never submitted a review to Cruise Critic and have not read the review rules, but I think that reviews should be published as submitted or rejected in their entirety. To my way of thinking Cruise Critic should not change a member's review in any way. Publish the whole review or reject the whole review.

Mine have always been relatively mild and neutral. None have ever been posted. Not sure of how it is done. I know some pretty crazy sounding ones have made it, and others have not. Who knows. I don't even try anymore.

Sure. The most recent review, from our Norwegian Dawn cruise to the Western Caribbean Jan. 25, included the name of the ship's hotel manager who I thought was particularly unimpressive and unhelpful in her response to our being stuck without a working toilet in our cabin. Her name was removed when the review was published. They also took out my comment that her apology was the least sincere sounding of the dozen we received over the week.

 

The other problem was a review I wrote after a January 2014 Celebrity Constellation cruise. I mentioned a group of supposed travel agents who accounted for a large percentage of the passengers. Their drunken and rowdy behavior brought down the class level of the cruise a couple of notches. That review was never published at all. I don't see much gain in mentioning any of these names right now. But in both cases, the names made it onto the forum in discussion posts, just not the official "review" section.

 

 

 

Jim

OMG,

I was on the same cruise, Constellation in Jan 2014, and I totally agree with you. It was nothing but a booze cruise for that large group. I received many of the TA cards and would never book a trip with any of them. It was my first time in the Carribbean for a cruise. I will never book anything less than a ten day cruise in the future to make sure I get away from the "party" groups.

I did not post a review because I had nothing good to say. That is terrible they did not post your review. I had been on the Constellation before and had posted reviews about the ship.Love it and will be on the Constellaiton in summer of 2016.:)

I used the word "****s" in a post and was actually using it in a comment about a situation off ship. It was blanked out.

 

I'm a former newspaper editor

 

 

I don't like having my opinions changed or neutered.

 

Talk about ironic.

Have never ever had a single word changed... Mentioning the name of a travel agent or agency will get those names deleted.

I have had difficulty posting a review and came back a couple days later and tried again. The second time it took.

Naming names would be a good way to have some items deleted!

I used the word "****s" in a post and was actually using it in a comment about a situation off ship. It was blanked out.

The software used automatically does that with certain words, no matter what the context is. The same software is used by many forums. It makes for some comical situations, such as when one is trying to give directions on the Italy boards that involve a large, key street in central Rome named via ****onale.

:rolleyes:

I agree that there is pretty much no human intervention.. Just the CC software. When an entire post disappears then that is after its posted and a Moderator has deleted because the post violated the posting rules.

You may want to review them before posting again and maybe you should will be able to determine why your review had issues.

I'm a former newspaper editor...

 

I don't like having my opinions changed or neutered.

Talk about ironic.

Just dripping with irony.:D

I guess CC and it's corporate parent don't have the same sense of what is libelous and what is not. If I'm not mistaken CC is owned by a corporation in the travel business and does business with the cruise lines so the editors here might not be wanting to 'bite the hand that feeds them' too much. It would be like a newspaper trying to do an expose on it's biggest advertiser. I'm sure the newspaper's legal, marketing and publisher would want a little more editing than normal on that one.;)

Well the OP has not posted here since Feb 20th and has moved on to other threads of interest....

Over the years, I've posted quite a few reviews in the Members' Review section. I've never encountered a problem with having anything edited or deleted. Of course, I operate on the assumption that the CruiseCritic community rules for posting apply to reviews, and I try to follow them. Although I offer specific examples of the positives and negatives encountered on my cruise, I generally avoid using names. It's one thing to point out shortcomings of an individual to their boss, in a private letter or e-mail. But, it's not very useful to include that level of detail in a public website review, IMHO. And, of course, there are rules on CruiseCritic about not naming specific travel agents/agencies -- that one is a no-brainer. ;)

I realize this thread is old, but I wanted to say that I have left many reviews and never had one edited until now. The editors removed the name of the cruise director that was referenced in my review. I was critical of the CD, but in a mild and unoffensive way. I simply said he was boring. The fact that CC edited out his name smacks of censorship to me. I have written positive comments about CDs before and listed them by name and that was never edited. This editorial policy is very concerning, as people come to CC to get honest reviews, good or bad. If this is a corporate policy of Expedia (owner of CC) to avoid negative reviews at the behest of the cruise lines then I will no longer volunteer my time to contribute to this site.

A very long time ago I submitted a couple reviews.

They had both negative and positive comments. Nothing was edited.

Then I did a couple of "Live" reports -- quit doing those.

I have written many reviews and never was one edited or rejected.

Keith

I realize I'm tempting fate here, but I'm curious whether other people have had reviews rejected or severely edited in the "reviews" section here on Cruise Critic.

 

I understand the administrators or moderators have to be more careful of what they allow on the review portion of the site because people cannot answer or dispute allegations as they can on the forums.

 

But out of three reviews I've written for CC, I've had one heavily edited, essentially ignoring my main beef and cutting out a key name, and one rejected entirely (I think because I named a group that was rowdy and detracted from the quality of a cruise; no one ever explained why it wasn't published).

 

Has anyone else had this problem? I'm a former newspaper editor and have a pretty good idea of what's libelous and what's not, what's fair and what's not. I'm not inclined to write any more reviews for the "review" section. I don't like having my opinions changed or neutered.

 

I'm happy to put my impressions on the forums and let people respond to them, but I always thought the review section was the easiest place for others to go to see what members thought of a certain ship or cruise.

 

Jim

Having read a later posting of yours on this thread, I can certainly understand why the editors here might not post your review in its entirety: your having named an individual in your scathing report, in a format which does not accommodate any counter-comment was something any responsible editor would have either modified or rejected.

Your attitude indicates a possible reason why you now refer to yourself as "...a FORMER newspaper editor..."; newspaper publishers have their own responsibilities.

I can see why the moderators might edit reviews which specifically named individuals in a negative way. Broadcasting such personalized negative comments without carefully investigating the facts would be unfair and irresponsible. While not disputing the truth of your comments, they displayed prudence --- after all, these are simply informal, informational opinions and not worth the expenditure of time in verifying facts.

I absolutely agree. Also, of what value is the name of a staff member since they rotate ships? A passenger usually has no idea (and most wouldn't care) who will be in any given position when reserving a cruise.

Inconsistency is a common theme here... Naming a CD, negatively or positively is done regularly on the cruise line boards here, especially on Carnival. Someone will start a thread 'How is XX?...and there will be many answers, some good, some not so...Those don't seem to be edited. EM