Perhaps a suggestion should be for members to support ( frequent) the establishments and Indys that support and make this community possible. Not mandatory obviously, but just a suggestion. And honest reviews of your experience whether good or bad are welcomed.
This seems wise on the surface but then you are basically saying support advertisers because they pay, not necessarily support advertisers because they are good. The advertisers pay to get certain privileges, mainly the right to post official ads. They should be satisfied that people who don't pay can't formally advertise and ad threads/posts are deleted. I know changes aren't being made but this should always be the position.
Advertisers should be making sure what they advertise is good/great. Reputation/goodwill/positive reviews will always happen if clients are repeatedly happy.
Is it worth also targeting those reviewers who are suspected of asking for discounts for positive reviews? Though I imagine this would also be very difficult to enforce, it does seem like another source of shill type reviews. Would it be worth asking that members never disclose they are members, the same way that food critics used to be very secretive about their appearances lest restaurants give them special services if they were identified?
Can't prove/enforce anything. I usually contact most SP's via Terb PM so they know I'm on here. Many ask for handles and I've had some indicate they've read my reviews which I want so they know what I'm like.
Cannot prove or prevent shilling, just like you can't do anything about "fake" positive reviews. How many reviews make a lady seem much better than she is because (1) dude had low standards (2) he got or paid for extras or (3) infatuation/bias?
Let patrons do their own research, read multiple reviews, and make decisions for themselves. I've personally invested time and money in certain ladies who have terrible reviews and I have totally different/great experiences with them. So reviews sometimes don't give the full picture.
I've also been to some MP's and after wonder how they stay in business, let alone garner praise from a number of reputable posters. Is this all shilling?