The Defamation Detector:
How to Identify Harmful Reviews Fast
2024© Stephen Replin
In today’s digital age, online reviews have become a crucial aspect of a business’s reputation. While positive reviews can boost credibility and attract new customers, I’m sure that we can all agree that negative reviews have the potential to cause significant harm if not handled properly.
For business owners that deal with the public (and who doesn’t), knowing how to quickly identify negative opinions from those that cross the line and become defamation is a critical skill that requires a bit of knowledge.
A negative review can be issued in many ways by a customer at any time. If, for example, the reviewer is angry about something that happened, whether real or imagined, his/her review may border or, or even cross over into the area of causing reputational damage to you and your business that could in turn, cause monetary harm to your business.
Ignoring or mishandling negative reviews can lead to a host of issues, from a damaged reputation to the loss of potential customers. More concerning, it can create a ripple effect where the dissatisfaction spreads further, potentially affecting your bottom line. However, when approached correctly, even a negative review can be turned into an opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction, resolve issues, and ultimately enhance your business’s image.
The goal of this discussion is to enlighten you about the identification of defamatory written and spoken statements to give you the best opportunity of stopping the spread of the ill will that such statements can cause.
I’m pretty sure that you’ve heard the word defamation in the past and have not ever known exactly what it is. I would like to give you a very short overview of what constitutes defamation. These elements are what you need to commit to memory if you are to be able to distinguish between mere negative opinions about some aspect of your business, and defamation.
Legally, defamation is a false statement presented as a fact that injures a party’s reputation.
So, the elements of defamation are as follows (and all must be present):
1. The statement that you think is defamatory must not be true.
2. The statement must be published or communicated to a third party.
3. The statement must cause harm to the subject’s reputation.
4. The statement must be made without adequate research into its truthfulness (negligence or malice).
And there are two flavors of this thing called defamation:
1. Spoken defamation which is commonly known as “libel” legally.
2. Written defamation which is typically called “slander” legally.
I think that if you have a few examples, you’ll catch on very quickly. What do you think about these situations?
1. This is an example of a review that someone posted (so it’s slander):
I went into Joe and Sam’s BBQ restaurant last night on south Broadway, you know the one, and the experience I had was unbelievable. Not only are they rude beyond belief, but the cooks are definitely dealing drugs out of the kitchen. If you see some of their patrons, they are most likely just getting out of, or just going into prison for drug related offenses.
And I saw one of the cooks who had tattoos all over his face which is always a sure sign that he has been in prison. It’s scary and I would never eat there again as it’s a dangerous place. Further, the ribs tasted like they must sprinkle meth all over them as I walked out feeling high and out of control. And I’m also certain that the meat wasn’t fresh and probably had been left out of the refrigerator for weeks on end.
They should close this place down immediately! Do not go there if you value your health and safety!!!
Would you be able to identify this post as defamation? And, how long would it take you to “know” or “feel” that it went beyond the limits of innocent opinion?
2. Here is an example of a neighborhood meeting where residents were encouraged to get up in front of 30 other residents and share their experiences with local merchants that others may not know about in order to help neighboring businesses (so its libel). I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard this one:
“I went to a hamburger restaurant last night called Nate’s Burger Bar on 6th Avenue (the location that has been closed by the health department 100 times over the last 10 years), and the food was absolutely inedible. The cook must be completely unaware of how to cook because he couldn’t even speak English. Imagine that in 2024 here in Denver! Where did he get his chef’s degree? At the dollar store? I heard them in the kitchen taking and making bets on sporting events instead of focusing on preparing meals.
After waiting for 30 minutes for our order to arrive, my simple hamburger was burned as was the bun. That wouldn’t have been so bad if I had ordered it this way. I actually ordered it medium rare but they are so inept that the server didn’t even write it down. The condiment bottles were empty and sticky, and the place had a “going out of business” feel to it. The tables all had layers of grease on them that had a feel of the prior new years eve gone astray some 9 months ago.
I got horribly sick later that night with food poisoning because the kitchen staff was so stupid that they left food out all night without being refrigerated. I can tell this a mile away.
And Finally,
the check, when it finally came, was so screwy because the server obviously flunked 3rd grade math, and arrogant about the fact that his bill was correct (which it wasn’t), that by the time I got it corrected, I was so angry that I screamed at the wait staff that this place should be shut down because of the rats that were crawling under our table throughout the entire meal. And I was so happy that there were at least 15 or 20 other people in the restaurant at the time.
I actually did see something under our table, but it was probably not a rat, but I wanted to light a fire under their rear ends to get their s___t together before I report them to the health commission. I’ll probably report the rat even if I can’t swear that I saw one. That’ll serve them right for being such a incompetent, criminal based, business.
So, my conclusion is that this place is absolutely horrible. It’s not only unsafe so bring your weapon (you should have seen their patrons…scary, scary, scary), they had unrefrigerated food lying about all over the place, with rodents crawling throughout the restaurant, and ignorant kitchen staff none of whom can understand an order! Make sure that you take plenty of stomach medication before you risk your health in this place.
Would you want to rush to either of these places after you read and heard these reviews? And, neither did anyone else…………so as to be expected, each place lost significant revenues, and these reviews could be a major cause.
Who really knows whether any of these claims were justified or true? And, the sad thing is that there was no attempt to verify the truth of any of the written or spoken statements
This field of criticism, complaints, and defamation is fascinating, but deadly if not done correctly, and responded to appropriately.
I’ll get into appropriate responses in a future article.
Best regards, Steve Replin