Doo Yoo Abuse? (dooyoo Abuse)

Member Name: rosebud2001

Product:	dooyoo Abuse
Date:	23/04/09 (504 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None!

Disadvantages: Over-rating and not reporting cheating devalues the site

One of the first things I do every morning when I get up is log onto the computer. This is because I have several friends from "across the pond" and they tend to e-mail me in the evening and due to the time difference its morning here when I get them.

I also like to spend a bit of time checking new reviews on Dooyoo and every single morning this week I have had to report plagiarised or computer translated reviews to the abuse section, the vast majority of which originated in Indonesia.

What shocks me about these reviews is the fact that even when I mention in the comments section that a review has been copied and translated, it gets rated "Very Useful" or "Useful" by some members.

Now even leaving aside the fact a review is copied, the fact is the vast majority of these reviews were originally written in Indonesian, and then been copied and pasted into the Google translation tool, and then whatever comes up in English has been posted for our edification.

If any of you have ever read the terms and conditions of this site, it states that reviews must be posted in native speaker level English. Google translation tools do not produce native speaker level English - oh no - they produce a mixture of English, gobbledegook and the occasional word from the original language that it is incapable of translating.

As a result not only are members here rating plagiarised content as "Very Useful", they are also rating content that is incomprehensible to the consumer as "Very Useful" - and doing the site, and themselves, an injustice. Dare I even suggest they didn't even bother to read the review?

Dooyoo is a site for British consumers to read reviews on various products in the market place and make an informed decision on what they want to buy based on the experience of someone who has purchased the product in the past and taken the time to write about their experiences. If the non-member reads a review they cannot understand but is highly rated by the members here, then it's doubtful that person is going to come back here to read further reviews, which will cost us all in the long run.

I understand some people fear revenge rating, but it's highly unlikely these people will hang around for long and once Dooyoo remove them, any of their revenge rates will be removed too. In fact if you are rating these newbies in the hope of getting 1.5p back from them, then I would suggest your hope is a forlorn one!

Perhaps we can also inform these people that they cannot get cash payments from the site without a UK address and bank account, which is fair enough considering the site, is for UK consumers - this might stop the daily proliferation of new junk reviews every morning.

I sometimes feel I am the big bad wolf when I read and rate as I am one of the few willing to put my head over the parapet and actually say "this review is rubbish" - and have had a few snide messages and comments for having the temerity to comment on bad grammar in reviews here before. The fact is the site isn't for someone to practise their English on or for reviews translated by Google - it needs reviews of a decent quality for people to come here again and again and for advertisers to pay Dooyoo - which enables them to pay us.

And before I get people berating me because they think I am having a pop at anyone who struggles with written English, I am not, because you can write your own reviews in Word or another word processing program and have it run a spelling and grammar check. The vast majority of members here know that - my gripe has nothing to do with those who suffer from dyslexia or have other difficulties with the written word - it is with those who quite simply do not have the knowledge of the English language at a level good enough to write a decent review, or worse barely know any of the language at all.

I am also not including members from overseas who do post reviews in fluent English in my complaints - they add a different dimension to the site which I feel is a welcome one.

So please, think before you rate - if something is copied or cannot be easily understood it is Not Useful - and should be rated as such.

And please don't leave it to Guides to report abuse - be proactive and report the abuse yourself.

Remember that plagiarism is cheating, and so is posting a review that has been run through an online translator.

Summary: There's a reason why I am not a member of Dooyoo France, Spain, Italy or Germany....