Inside Guide Frequently Asked Questions
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Home > Inside Guide > FAQ
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What is the Inside Guide?
Created by The Bakersfield Californian, the Inside Guide is designed to let Bakersfield consumers rate and review local businesses. It is the leading website for Bakersfield locals to turn for recommendations from people they know and trust.
User Frequently Asked Questions:
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Rating & Reviews
How do I review a business?
To review a business you have to be registered as a user and logged in to the site. Find the business you want to review and click the “Add rating & review” button. On the next page you can give the business a rating, tell what the average price per person spent was and type in a review of the business.
How do I become a Trusted Reviewer?
To become a trusted reviewer, you have to submit at least 10 reviews and other users have to tell us that at least 70% of those reviews were helpful. Your status can change if the percentage of reviews deemed helpful falls below 70%.
What are some guidelines for posting reviews?
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Disclosure: For example, if you claim that a business owner pays low wages, you must explain how you know that.
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Personal experiences only. For example, you can’t give a bad review because someone you know had a bad experience. Your reviews must be about your personal experiences, not hearsay.
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Personal issues with employees or business owners. For example, you can’t slam a business because you had a bad break up with someone who works there. If the person provided poor service while you were patronizing the business, that’s fair game to review.
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Personal attacks. We encourage you to share your experiences, but we reserve the right to remove posts that include vicious attacks or name calling.
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Slurs and stereotypes. Inside Guide is not the place for ethnic, gender, and or other protected-class stereotypes.
Can I change my review/rating?
Yes, you can change your review. To change your review, just click the “Add review & rating” button again. A message will pop up telling you that if you continue your old rating and review will be replaced. If you don’t want that to happen, click cancel.
What’s the deal with the pricing?
Users like you set the average price rating for the business. All you have to do is figure out the average price spent per person. You can choose from the following ranges: under $10 per person, between $10 and $20 per person, between $20 and $40 per person and above $40 per person.
I see a factually inaccurate or inappropriate review. What can I do about it?
Under each review is a “Report factual error/inappropriate comment” link. If there is questionable content in a review, click that link and we’ll be notified and will investigate as best we can.
Business Listings
Something’s wrong with the business’ information. Who do I tell?
Each business profile has a "Report A Problem" button. When you click that button you can tell us what is wrong with the business’ profile.
My Favorite Business isn't listed. Who should I contact?
Did we miss your favorite business? Email us with the business' name and as much information as you know.
Fan Clubs
I want to be a regular customer, but I don’t want to appear on the business’ profile. Is that possible?
Yes, when you ask to become a regular you are given the choice of what you want to appear on the business’ profile. You can choose whether or not to display your picture on a business profile. To change what is displayed on a profile, click the "Edit Profile, Settings" button and click the "Friends and Faves" Button.
Why isn’t my picture appearing on a business’ regulars list?
Business owners also have the ability to choose whether or not your photo appears on their profile. If your username is appearing, but not your photo, the business has probably decided not to display your photo on their profile.
Business Frequently Asked Questions:
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Profile & Listing Information
How do I claim my profile?
To claim your profile all you have to do is find your business and then click on the “Claim this profile” link. We need to collect a little bit of information about you and your business. You’ll need a valid email address to claim your profile. After you enter in your information, we’ll send you and email with a link in it. Click that link and enter in the password you want to use to access your profile.
The next screen will allow you to: upload a photo of your business that will be shown on your profile; enter your hours of operation; type some information about your business; choose (or change) categories that you want your business listed under; and enter in some specialties that will help people find your business.
Once I sign up, how do I change my information?
After you’ve claimed your profile and you want to change something, all you need to do is log in and then visit your profile. You’ll notice that in the upper right corner of the page are some links. One of those links says, “My Settings.”
Click on that link and you will be able to change all of your business information. There are a series of buttons on the left of the page that will allow you to change your “About Us” text, upload a new photo, add links to your favorite Web sites, and change and add Specialty tags to your profile.
What if my business is not listed?
If your business is not listed, you can create a listing for it. At the top of any “Inside Guide” pages you’ll notice a link that says “List Your Business.” If you click on that link you can register your business. We ask for your phone number to ensure that your business isn’t already registered.
What if my business’ information is wrong?
If you claim your profile you can change all the information except for the price range and ratings. The price and rating of your profile are generated based on user reviews and therefore cannot be changed.
What is a fan club?
Users that have reviewed your business are given the option of showing support of your business by joining a fan club and showing that they consider themselves a “regular” of your business. If you are interested in sending special offers or messages to your fan club, please email us at insideguide@bakersfield.com
Rating & Reviews
My business has been reviewed on Inside Guide. Now what should I do?
Congratulations! Now that you are in the game, we recommend getting personally involved in the Inside Guide - primarily as an individual and also as someone actively putting your business' best foot forward on Bakersfield.com. We've come up with this simple list of DOs and DON'Ts for business owners, and we hope you'll keep us posted on what works best.
There’s a factually inaccurate review on my profile. What can I do about it?
Under each review is a “Report factual error/inappropriate comment” link. If there is questionable content in a review, click that link and we’ll be notified and will investigate as best we can.
Can I remove reviews?
No, we don’t allow business owners to remove user-submitted reviews. You can however respond to each review one time. You must have claimed your profile and be logged in as your business in order to respond to reviews.
What if there is a review for my business that I think is libelous? Will Inside Guide remove it?
Rarely. Inside Guide is a forum for people to voice their opinions, even if those opinions are negative or sarcastic. But when we are made aware of a review that may violate our terms of service, we will evaluate it and, if it clearly violates those guidelines, we will remove it or ask the user to change the violating content.
If you believe that a review of your business violates our terms of service, please email us at insideguide@bakersfield.com with all the information you have on the violating review. One of our team members will get back to you as soon as we can, though this can take several days.
Does Inside Guide apply its Review Guidelines differently for clients? (If I become an Inside Guide sponsor, will you remove my negative reviews?)
No. Our team applies our terms of service equivalently to sponsors and non-sponsors. So no, becoming an Inside Guide sponsor does not mean that negative review will be removed.
If you believe that a review violates our terms of service, please contact the reviewer (your customer) first. If you are not able to resolve the issue directly with the reviewer, send the URL of the review in question to our team at insideguide@bakersfield.com and someone will respond as soon as possible. Keep in mind that Inside Guide is based on free speech and that we only rarely remove reviews.
I don’t want people to be able to review my business. Is that possible?
No. All Inside Guide business profiles allow users to post reviews. We feel this gives the community a voice and helps other users make smart decisions about which businesses they choose to patronize.
How do I respond to a review?
Once you have claimed your business, you will need to login under your business profile. On your business profile page, next to each review there is a “Respond to this Review” link. Click on the link and a text box will appear. Type and save your response. Your response to the review will appear next to the review.
Advertising
How can I promote my business in the Inside Guide?
We offer very affordable advertising packages allowing your message and brand to rotate throughout the inside guide and appear on all pages of non-advertisers. To learn more, please email us at insideguide@bakersfield.com
Will bad reviews be removed if a business pays for advertising?
Absolutely not. Reviews of Inside Guide advertisers and non-advertisers are treated identically, and any complaints are handled by the same user support team, operating under our Terms of Service. All businesses, once they have claimed their profile have the opportunity to respond to their review. As you probably realize, negative reviews are a normal part of doing business, so you shouldn't be surprised if you find the occasional negative review on your profile.
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For any additional questions you may have about the Inside Guide, please email insideguide@bakersfield.com. We will respond to your questions or request within 2 business days.
