Review moderation & appeals

What can be moderated

Reviews must reflect a genuine, first-hand customer experience. The following are prohibited and may be removed:

• Fake reviews and conflicts of interest: fabricated experiences, impersonation, undisclosed self-promotion, business self-reviews, staff reviews, competitor sabotage, or coordinated rating and reward manipulation.
• Extortion and coercion: threatening a negative review or low rating to demand free products, discounts, or special treatment.
• Hate speech and harassment: threats, targeted harassment, racial slurs, discriminatory abuse, or content that unlawfully infringes another person's rights.
• Off-topic or political commentary: employment disputes, labour grievances, political debates, or other non-consumer matters presented as a venue review.
• Privacy violations (doxxing): private contact details, full legal names, identity documents, payment information, or personal photographs of staff or customers published without permission.
• Spam, duplicate promotional content, unrelated material or misleading claims presented as first-hand facts.

These standards also apply to business replies. Strong opinions and genuine complaints are allowed. An accusation alone is not proof of a violation; the decision must consider the context and available evidence.

Owner reply etiquette

Verified business owners may reply publicly from the merchant dashboard. Replies should stay professional, polite, and relevant to the visitor's experience.

• Do not pressure visitors to change a score, retaliate against them, or make rewards conditional on praise.
• Do not publish another person's private contact details or accuse a reviewer of a crime without a factual, necessary response to the review.
• Kampot Guide may remove owner replies that breach privacy, use abusive language, or harass a reviewer in public.

How decisions are made

1. Identify the specific content and policy concern; review the surrounding context and evidence rather than the star rating.
2. Use the least restrictive appropriate response: leave compliant feedback in place, seek clarification, or correct/redact a specific violation without rewriting the visitor's experience.
3. Record a concrete reason for a moderator edit, deletion or restriction. Moderator review edits are publicly marked as edited; original content is retained privately in the audit trail.
4. On a report or appeal, explain the decision and the relevant rule to the requester by email, without exposing another person's private information.

Do not change a star rating to improve a business average. Credible privacy or safety concerns may require action before a full review. Current moderation is handled by people; there is no automatic appeal decision or guaranteed response time.

Account and review restrictions

Repeated manipulation or serious abuse can lead to a review-participation restriction or, where necessary, an account-access restriction. The reason and changes are recorded privately. The scope should fit the issue and be reconsidered when an appeal or new evidence warrants it.

• Review-only restriction: prevents publishing or editing reviews, helpful votes and business replies. Public reading and deleting your own review remain available.
• Account restriction: prevents authenticated app actions, including Ask Kampot requests. It does not delete the account, existing reviews, credits or subscriptions.
• Not an IP ban: these controls apply to a registered account, not anonymous browsing or every possible new identity.

You do not need to sign in to email an appeal, including when account access is restricted.

Rewards are rating-neutral

A new eligible review earns 10 Ask Kampot AI credits and one business point, whether it is one star or five stars. Eligibility is based on a genuine experience and the program rules, not positive sentiment. A reward does not mean Kampot Guide independently verified the visit.

Each account can earn once per business. Existing reviews, edits and deleted/reposted reviews do not earn again. Removing a rewarded review reverses the business point, but the reviewer keeps the earned credits. Spent points may create a shortfall covered by future points; removal does not cancel an already redeemed subscription. See the full reward terms.

Report a review or reply

Email the listing URL, the review or reply author and date, the rule you believe was broken, and relevant facts. Businesses and visitors use the same process. Disagreement with a rating alone is not a policy violation.

1. Submit the inquiry to contact@kampot.guide using the prepared subject Review report - Kampot Guide. Include the business name in the body.
2. Provide evidence: the listing URL, review timestamp, author name if shown, and documentation of the policy concern.
3. Internal review: a person reviews the claim against the content, audit record and context. We aim to look at reports within 48 to 72 business hours. Current moderation is handled by people; there is no automatic takedown or guaranteed response time.
4. Determination: if a violation is confirmed, the review may be removed or edited and the reviewer notified where we have contact details. Submitting a request does not guarantee removal.

Neutral moderation: reviews that express critical but authentic customer opinions without a policy violation remain published. Paying for Plus, Featured or Featured Max does not buy removal of criticism.

Appeal a decision

If you believe a review edit, deletion or restriction was wrong, emailcontact@kampot.guide. Use the subject Moderation appeal and include:

• Your account email or display name, the listing URL, and the review date or ID if known.
• The decision and approximate date, why you disagree, any relevant evidence and the outcome you are requesting.

These buttons open your email app with a template; they do not submit a case. You can also write directly using webmail. Never send passwords, login codes, payment-card details or unredacted identity documents.

The site owner reviews the policy reason, audit record and new evidence. Where practical, someone not involved in the original decision should review it; a separate reviewer is not always available. The response should explain whether the decision is upheld, corrected or access is restored, and why. You may reply with new evidence. An appeal is not a promise of reversal.

Deleted reviews cannot currently be restored with one click. An accepted appeal may require an agreed correction or a new submission; deletion and reposting never create another reward. Reporting here is not an emergency service.

Listing suspension appeals

If a listing is suspended or delisted for suspected unlawful activity, fraud, or repeated consumer-safety complaints, the merchant receives written notice by email or WhatsApp with the grounds. To appeal:

• Send a formal appeal to contact@kampot.guide within 14 calendar days of the notice, using the subject Moderation appeal - Kampot Guide.
• Include documentation that shows compliance, such as updated permits, safety certificates, or other legal clearance where relevant.
• We aim to send a final decision within 5 business days of a complete appeal. That is a target for the site owner, not an automated job or a guaranteed response time.

Weekly owner review

This is the operating checklist for the site owner, not an automated job or a claim that a review has already happened. Once a week:

1. Review every moderator deletion, review edit and access restriction since the previous check against its recorded reason and the policy.
2. Review report and appeal emails, prioritising privacy and safety concerns. Send a reasoned response and ask for clarification where needed.
3. Check for conflicts of interest, commercial pressure, unjustified rating changes and repeated abuse. Never suppress honest criticism or reward positive ratings.
4. Correct mistaken decisions, restore access where appropriate and record a clear reason for the change.
5. Record the review date, responsible person, cases checked and follow-up actions in the private business roadmap. Carry unresolved cases forward.

Owner HQ's community panel shows the latest 20 owner-audit entries; that preview is not a complete weekly case list and also includes business-plan saves. Keep a private case list as decisions are made so busy weeks are not overlooked.

Records and privacy

Moderator edits, deletions and access changes record the actor, date, reason and relevant before/after content. Original review content may remain in the private audit trail after public removal, for accountability and appeals. This trail is available to the site owner, not businesses, other visitors or embedded widgets.

Appeal emails are correspondence, not public reviews. Share only what is needed to assess the case. For data questions, see the Privacy Policy; this playbook supplements the Terms and Conditions.