Reader reviews
Reviews policy
How reader reviews are moderated here, what gets removed, and the things we do not do — including the ones the law already forbids.
Last updated September 7, 2026
What we publish
Anyone can send a review of a product covered here. A person reads every one before it appears, usually within a few days. We publish critical reviews and positive ones under the same rules, and they appear newest first — never sorted by rating.
Reader reviews sit in their own section and are counted separately from our editorial score. We do not fold them into our score, and we do not publish a combined star average.
What we remove
A review is rejected only for what it contains, never for what it concludes:
- Personal attacks, harassment, or content targeting a private individual.
- Anything that is not about the product — a shipping complaint against a retailer we do not control, for example.
- Contact details, links, or promotional content.
- Text that appears automated, duplicated, or written by someone with an undisclosed stake in the product.
- Claims that would be unsafe if wrong, such as medical advice.
Every rejection is recorded with its reason. That record exists so the claim on this page can be checked rather than merely asserted.
What we never do
- We do not remove a review for being negative. A low rating is not a reason.
- We do not reorder reviews to bury criticism. The order is chronological.
- We do not write reviews ourselves or pay anyone to write one.
- We do not offer anything in exchange for a review — no discount, no entry, no free product.
- We do not edit the text of a review. It is published or it is not.
These are also requirements of the US rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, not only house policy.
Why nothing says “verified purchase”
We cannot currently confirm that someone who submits a review bought the product. So every reader review carries the note Purchase not verified, without exception. When we can verify a purchase, we will say which ones are verified and which are not — we will not retroactively relabel what is already here.
What we keep
We store the name you type, your rating and your text. We do not store your IP address: we keep a one-way hash of it, which lets us stop the same source from flooding the form but cannot be turned back into an address. We do not ask for your email, and we do not set advertising cookies.
If you want a review you submitted taken down, ask us and we will remove it.