Dojo Reviews and You - in-house bullshido.

[Ke?poFist]

Hey, forget that. I want to see a review of your old Kempo school, the head instructor's 1980s Bon Jovi hairdo, and the 1980s black acid-washed gis.

Now *THAT* would be a review!

It's coming, but I only have it half written because I am unsure of the legal ramifications of what I really want to discuss. Alot of stuff I'd say although completely true could land me in court for slander, and the time and money spent trying to fight that could not only cost me, but could really REALLY piss me off.

I could write a book about that place.

[LI GUY 1]

How could it be slander if it is true? Also, if it is honest it can't be perceived as malicious if others on the site agree that you are being honest about it, right? So an honest review of the kempo school's suckage written for the public good should be fine.

If not we just RNC their asses because courts are for pussies, thats why God invented guns and assault.

If someone sucks, its the truth, and I say he sucks, is that slander?

Also, its libel when written, not slander.

[Ke?poFist]

How could it be slander if it is true? Also, if it is honest it can't be perceived as malicious if others on the site agree that you are being honest about it, right? So an honest review of the kempo school's suckage written for the public good should be fine.

If not we just RNC their asses because courts are for pussies, thats why God invented guns and assault.

If someone sucks, its the truth, and I say he sucks, is that slander?

Also, its libel when written, not slander.

lol, ok libel then. And like I said, it doesn't matter if it's true, because if they go to court, now I have to take the time to prove what I wrote is 100% true. In that time I could run up alot of money with a lawyer as well as end up getting screwed by them finding ways to hide any evidence of such.

To be vague, alot of what I'd like to talk about is the way they handle money, the way they handle paying instructors (or lacktherof). These things are hard to prove beyond word of mouth.

Other things which I don't find as easy to hide that I'd talk about is the way they set up a puppet parent organization to buy gear and merchandise wholesale that they then resell to school owners at retail value, which is then sold to students above retail value. When sold then they get a cut of that money in addition to the 100% profit they just made on it, because they are shareholders of all the schools profits. This stuff is required to be bought by students if they wish to train despite it not being mentioned in the contract and they are told they are only allowed to buy it from the school. I got in a bunch of **** for telling students where to get stuff cheaper online.

[Ke?poFist]

In the end I need to think it through very carefully, and choose my words very carefully, because I don't want them going USSD on me.

[It is Fake]

It's coming, but I only have it half written because I am unsure of the legal ramifications of what I really want to discuss. Alot of stuff I'd say although completely true could land me in court for slander, and the time and money spent trying to fight that could not only cost me, but could really REALLY piss me off.

I could write a book about that place.

Yeah that's why you'll probably never see a review of my old school.

l
Other things which I don't find as easy to hide that I'd talk about is the way they set up a puppet parent organization to buy gear and merchandise wholesale that they then resell to school owners at retail value, which is then sold to students above retail value. When sold then they get a cut of that money in addition to the 100% profit they just made on it, because they are shareholders of all the schools profits. This stuff is required to be bought by students if they wish to train despite it not being mentioned in the contract and they are told they are only allowed to buy it from the school. I got in a bunch of **** for telling students where to get stuff cheaper online.

Damn this is obviously a business model. My school was exactly the same.

[One-Way]

I think you guys are missing the point. There is always some "reason" why your place of training is better than all the others. The issue is, you give it a "9" and when someone else comes there, they think it's a "6". JohnnyCache is saying take a step back, and give a honest assesment here, don't just try to entice people. Leave that to advertisements. Correct Johnny?

[FBV]

You're absolutely right, now that you explain it. Although the info would have been more helpful before, but better late than never..

[Pandinha]

Well said....now I feel a little guilty

I don't.

My ratings were pretty good.

If anyone doesn't think so, please feel free to say so.

[revisionist00]

I may be missing the thread but is there any info on the requirements needed to actually complete a School Review?

I am asking this because I know of some members that attend introductory classes and then run home and rate the school based on that class. I know at my Dojo we have our “on and off” days. Sometimes we have guy's preparing for tournaments or competitions, so we train harder in those weeks, but sometimes we in cool down mode after a tournament (we have a smaller school). What happens if someone reviewing comes in during our cool down time? Do we automatically receive a bad review based on the fact that the rater wanted to see fighting but instead we stretched more and worked on flexibility drills and less on sparring and weight training? We have seen many people walk into our gym and just expect to jump in and kick someone’s ass.

I have been reading a few reviews in my area, and have noticed some members complaining that they were not allowed to spar or declined to spar with. I know at the schools I have attended this is a common occurrence, since they want the students to learn more about the art before actually sparring.

Are there any requirements concerning a rater’s background? I know the expectation of veteran MA’ist will be different from first year or no experience. I know the general attitude is if they are a good gym it will be obvious in their intro class, and I am the first to admit that every school has good days, weeks, months.

So could there be a tab or even a space to place how long the rater has attended this school. This will allow readers to know if the person has attended the class long enough to even understand the curriculum and actually see the training in action.

The product reviews on this site are great and I would like to see more. But I feel that rating dojos should be much more complex then a member just stepping into the school for the day and then writing a review. Even though these reviews can steer clients away from potentially bad gyms, a bad or even ill informed review on this site could cause some of these gyms to lose cliental.

I apologize for the long post and hope that it helps improve the rating system.

[Phrost]

Everyone can vote on the numerical review, and there can be multiple reviews of the same school. That addresses a lot of your concerns I believe.