Review guidelines
One standard for every published review—positive or negative, with the same moderation and transparency rules.
First-hand experiences only
Reviews must describe the author’s own, genuine experience with the listed business. A purchase is not always required, but fabricated experiences, conflicts of interest, copied text, threats, advertising, and reviews written for payment are not allowed.
- Any star rating from one to five is allowed.
- Constructive criticism is welcome.
- Reviewers should avoid personal data about employees or other customers.
- Photo uploads must be relevant and owned by the reviewer.
Moderation before publication
Public submissions begin as pending and are invisible on the public profile. An administrator reviews the text and each photo before choosing publish or reject. Pending images stay in private storage; rejected pending images are removed.
Moderation evaluates compliance, not whether the rating is favorable. ReviewLedger does not rewrite review text.
How the score works
The displayed score is the simple arithmetic mean of published ReviewLedger ratings for the business. The rating breakdown divides the count at each star level by the total number of published reviews and rounds that percentage for display.
Draft, pending, and rejected records do not affect the score. No rating from another platform is included.
How review summaries work
The review summary is generated automatically from the titles, text, and ratings of reviews published on ReviewLedger. Fixed topic rules count recurring language once per review, rank the most-mentioned themes, and identify repeated positive or cautionary patterns.
- Private email addresses, order references, moderation notes, and pending reviews are never analyzed.
- Topics can overlap because one review may discuss several parts of an experience.
- The summary appears only after at least 10 published reviews contain enough repeated themes.
- Summary wording is assembled from fixed, review-supported descriptions; it does not quote or rewrite an individual reviewer.
An automated overview can miss nuance. Read the individual reviews for the full context of each experience.
Business responses
A response is displayed separately from the review and labeled with the relevant business name. Responses should address the experience without exposing order numbers, email addresses, or other private information. Business access does not grant the ability to silently edit a reviewer’s words.
Report a concern
Use the contact form and include the review reference. Reports trigger another moderation review; they do not automatically remove a published review.