Moderation & Trust Policy

Gold Stars Reviews accepts reviews from individuals who have had a genuine first-hand experience with the business, product, or service being reviewed.

Accepted reviews include: dining experiences, hotel stays, spa visits, retail purchases, professional service engagements, and any other direct consumer interaction with a business.

Reviews must be based on the reviewer's own experience. Reviews written on behalf of another person, or based solely on second-hand accounts, are not accepted.

Reviews may be positive, negative, or mixed. We do not filter by rating. A 1-star review that describes a genuine experience is as valid as a 5-star review.

We remove reviews that contain: personal attacks or harassment directed at staff members by name, hate speech or discriminatory language, false statements of fact (as distinct from opinions), content that is clearly fabricated with no genuine experience behind it, reviews submitted by business owners about their own business, reviews submitted by competitors with the intent to harm, and reviews that contain private personal information about individuals.

We do NOT remove reviews simply because they are negative, because a business disputes them, or because a business pays us. Commercial relationships do not influence moderation decisions.

When a review is removed, the reviewer is notified by email with the specific reason for removal and the option to appeal.

Businesses that believe a review violates our policies may submit a formal dispute through our business portal. Disputes must specify which policy the review violates — "I don't like this review" is not a valid dispute.

Our moderation team reviews all disputes within 5 business days. We may contact the reviewer for additional information.

If a dispute is upheld, the review is removed and the reviewer is notified. If a dispute is rejected, the business is notified and the review remains.

Businesses that submit repeated bad-faith disputes (attempting to remove legitimate negative reviews) will have their dispute privileges suspended.

Businesses cannot pay to have reviews removed, altered, or suppressed. Any business that attempts to do so will be permanently flagged on our platform.

Reviewers have the right to: post honest reviews of genuine experiences, respond to business owner replies, edit their own reviews within 30 days of posting, request deletion of their own reviews at any time, and appeal moderation decisions.

Reviewer identities are never shared with the businesses they review. Businesses cannot access reviewer contact information, IP addresses, or account details.

If a business takes legal action against a reviewer, Gold Stars Reviews will not voluntarily disclose reviewer information without a valid court order. We will notify the reviewer of any such request to the extent permitted by law.

Businesses that have claimed their profile may respond publicly to reviews. Responses must be professional and address the review content. Responses that attack, threaten, or demean reviewers will be removed.

Business responses are clearly labeled as coming from the business owner or representative.

Businesses may not use their response to offer incentives for review removal or modification. Offering compensation in exchange for changing a review is a violation of our policies and will result in the response being removed and the business being flagged.

Gold Stars Reviews prohibits the solicitation of reviews in exchange for compensation, discounts, free products, or any other benefit. This applies to both positive and negative reviews.

Businesses that are found to be incentivizing reviews will have those reviews removed and their profile flagged with a notice to consumers.

Reviewers who disclose that they received compensation for their review will have that review removed. If a reviewer does not disclose compensation and we discover it, both the review and the reviewer's account may be suspended.

Our own "Review for Rewards" program, where reviewers earn points for verified reviews, is disclosed transparently on every review submitted through that program.

Reviews that are substantially or entirely generated by artificial intelligence are not permitted. Reviews must reflect the genuine personal experience and voice of the reviewer.

We use automated tools to detect AI-generated content. Reviews flagged as likely AI-generated are held for human review before publication.

Gold Stars Reviews uses AI tools to generate summary content on business pages. These summaries are clearly labeled as "AI-generated" and are based on the actual reviews on the platform. They are not reviews themselves.

Both reviewers and businesses may appeal moderation decisions. Appeals must be submitted within 30 days of the original decision.

Appeals are reviewed by a senior member of our moderation team who was not involved in the original decision.

Appeal decisions are final. We aim to complete all appeals within 10 business days.

To submit an appeal, contact us through our contact page with the subject line "Moderation Appeal" and include the review ID and the reason for your appeal.

This policy was last updated on August 1, 2026. We review and update our trust and moderation policies regularly.

Material changes to this policy will be announced on our platform and communicated to registered users by email.

Continued use of Gold Stars Reviews after a policy update constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.