I happen to think the rating system is a good start, resetting once every six months works for me. Accountability is a good thing! I would not want to opt out if I had a negative review especially if the greater portion is positive!

WOW really walking on a double edged sword here. I like the anonymous feedbacks beacuse then you know there are true feedbacks. If someone is not happy with a vendor they are not going to post in a vendor forums what the problem is to have an online p*ssing match. I have bought frags from vendors that I thought were way over priced for what I got size/quality...guess the money went towards a good photoshop program :wink: but I guess that is my own stupidity for not asking the right questions.
Now if I was getting bad/good ratings from customers I would be asking why? I see only 2 vendors want feedback Wicked frags and Coral Master how come vendors don't set up there own polls on why they like/dislike there shopping experience? and keep it anonymous to help there respective businesses EVERYONE will always give good feedback not everyone will give poor feedback with repercussions. Like Snappy said he got an unsatified customer ...but why? not who? was it price? quaility? experience? maybe if he knew why it wasn't perfect I know he would strive to make it perfect....(Sorry to use you as an example Greg). If some vendors want to pull out of it or some bad reviews so be it guess some want to hide what reallity is
I mod on several boards that do not allow any vendor reviews PERIOD good or bad, it results in hard feeling and p*ssing matches BUT I am going to propose to my boards what you guys have done here the the condtion of anonymity, to ensure a true rating.
Kudos to the Mods for the the vendor rating...keep up the good work :mrgreen:

Never mind

maybe I'm being naive but why would anonymity give true results. If I got a bad experience or a good why would it make a difference you could see my name. I always have the option not to participate in the poll whatever my experiences.

As for vendors hounding with PM's can't see that being a problem. If they're trying to contact to make right, great, if just hassling I always have the option just to delete (not sure if on this forum one can block) but I really don't think they're that childish or that much time to waste. If the vendor sends me 100 PMs and blocks my inbox, I'll let the mods know.

Believe the easiest would just be having a public poll where one could vote only (not post) and if there was a unsatisfactory vote and the problem resolved the poster contacts the mod to delete the vote, if unresolved the vote stands. Can't see a whole lot of bad votes needing efforts of the mods.

I dont think it needs to be reset every 6 months...The long terrm average will show the true results moreso than short term stuff...

Also, in response to what wicked frags stated on page 4,

Individuals who leave any type of feedback on this system (either above or below the average feedback rating) can be traced back to their username, IP address and network card from the computer they used. I can then find out if they are in fact a customer or simply a loyal customer of another sponsor, again, should I see fit under the circumstances. Thanks.

Even if the person who voted isnt a customer, that shouldnt discredit their judgement of the said store...For example, lets say my cousin buys a bunch of frags from Joe's Frag Shoppe and loves every bit of the experience...I then go over to his place to see what all the hype about and then realize it doesnt turn my crank due to whatever reason...Of course I would feel the opposite towards Joe's Frag Shoppe than what he feels but its just an opinion...

When I look at these ratings, I am more than happy with a vendor who has 80% in the first 2 categories and would be willing to do business with them...Lets face it, we are all human and no one is perfect...If I see one that has 100% in the top categiory, I would think its too good to be true...If you're perfect, it goes to your head but if you're not, then you strive to get better...

Its normal business practise to have someone who is not entirely satisfied with everything you have...Like someone else said, "you cant please everyone all of the time"...I see it all the time at my office...People look for reasons to b*tch...

Wow, I'm gone for 2 weeks and this is what I come back to? You know it's bad when the work pileup to sift through after a two week vacation is a tiny fraction of the Canreef pileup to sift through.

I'm going to throw my two bits in here. Until I'm paid a salary to sort through this stuff, I opt for a system that requires less intervention from me. At this point I'm tempted to support the notion that vendor reviews once again be removed from this site. I really see little to no benefit for the headaches and heartaches that this causes. Canreef exists to share information related to the hobby and in particular the husbandry of captive reef specimens. The emphasis being on information, not trade or business. Canreef is not a surrogate for ebay or other buy/sell type boards. The bandwidth that is required for this site is staggering - thus the costs to keep the board running reflect that - thus we enlisted the aid of vendors to sponsor the site to be able to keep it as a free resource for all. We thank vendors for their support because without them there will be no Canreef as it exists right now. As with all things, caveat emptor. We are not the better business bureau, we are not ebay, we are not reefcentral. We are Canreef and we strive to provide a unique stamp onto the hobby in this country.

I completely agree with Tony and think the polls are a waste of the Admins time and completely unnessary! Do your own homework, make your own purchase decisions. If you feel you've been screwed, lesson learned!
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me!

Welcome back Tony.. :lol:

Here, I'll offer this:

Evidently it's too much work for the existing moderators to manage the burden of the current and proposed vendor review systems. Perhaps more moderators are needed. I'm way too busy to do this but I do have a gap usually between 12 and 2 where I don't have many patients to see so I'll volunteer to help moderate things if needed.

I agree. This seems to be a big burden on Canreef. IMO, we were doing just fine without the Vendor Ratings Forum (I guess I am speaking for myself here) but I do agree with Treebeard's post.