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Community Guidelines

Last Updated: October 6, 2026

The Critic Farm community is where people tell each other what actually happened with the companies, products and services they rely on: the claim that took nine weeks, the bill that jumped 40%, the customer service rep who went out of their way. These are the rules for it. They are short on purpose, and they are the only reasons we remove anything.

1. What we promise you

  • Your story stays up whether it is good or bad news for a company. We do not remove or hide a story because it is negative, because a company asks us to, or because it might cost us business.
  • Levels are never tied to what you say. Your level rises as you share and as other members find your posts useful. A five-star story and a one-star story count exactly the same.
  • Nothing disappears silently. Every removal, restoration, suspension and ban is listed in the public moderation log with the reason. A removed post keeps its place in the thread, marked as removed, with that reason.
  • Critic Farm staff do not post as members to steer opinion, and nobody is paid to post. When we start a discussion or answer a question, we post as Critic Farm team, clearly labelled, and we never rate or review anything in the community.

2. What we ask of you

  • Tell your own experience. Say what happened to you, and keep facts and opinions recognisable: “they took nine weeks to pay” is a fact you can stand behind; “they are crooks” is an opinion, and should read like one.
  • Name the company, not the people. Do not post the names, phone numbers, emails, addresses or photos of employees, agents, other customers or anyone else. Leave out your own account numbers, policy or claim numbers, and anything else you would not want a stranger to have.
  • Say what you are connected to. If you work for, own, are paid by, or are otherwise connected to something you write about (or one of its competitors), say so in the “Affiliation” line of your profile, so it shows next to everything you write. Promoting your own employer or business without saying so will be removed.
  • No made-up stories, and no one person posting as many. One account per person. Inventing experiences, posting for someone else for money, or using several accounts to vote or to make a story look common gets accounts banned.
  • Be decent to each other. Disagree with a post as hard as you like. Do not harass, threaten or abuse other members, and no hate on the basis of race, religion, sex, sexuality, disability, or anything else of that kind.
  • No spam, ads or referral links. Links to sources are welcome; links to sell something are not.
  • Keep it legal. Nothing that breaks the law, encourages fraud, or infringes someone else’s copyright.

Posts are sorted by tags that Critic Farm staff look after. Pick the ones that fit what you are posting. If we merge or retire a tag, your post moves to the tag that replaces it; what you wrote is never changed.

3. What happens when a rule is broken

Any member can report a post, a comment or a member. Reports go to Critic Farm staff. If enough members report the same post, it is hidden automatically until staff look at it, and it says so in the log.

Staff then either keep it up (it is shown again and the reports are closed) or remove it (it is marked as removed with the reason, and it no longer counts toward the author’s level). For repeated or serious breaches we may suspend an account for a time or ban it. Some long-standing members may be asked to help as moderators. They can remove, pin and lock posts under these same rules, and their actions are logged under their name.

If you think we got a decision wrong, use the contact page and tell us which post. We will look again, and if we were wrong, we will restore it and say so in the log.

4. What the community is not

Stories in the community are members’ own experiences and opinions. They are not Critic Farm’s reviews, they are not checked by us before they appear, and they are not financial, insurance, legal or any other professional advice. Our own reviews follow our Editorial Standards; the community does not. Before you rely on anything you read here, confirm it with the company concerned or the relevant regulator.

Using the community also means agreeing to our Terms of Service, which explain what you allow us to do with what you post, and our Privacy Policy, which explains what we keep about your account.