BS Haunt Reveiws

[Jolly Pumpkin]

Actually I'm the creator, webmaster and president. I also have an HRA certified website. The association is totally non profit and I monitor all the websites that are certified. So I'm the only one puting money into it and am the only one who works on the association. It's unlike the other haunt associations out there.

[WelchWitch]

Actually, the Haunt Reviewer's association isn't a company, and reviewers don't buy their way into it. However, I agree, there is no real guarantee or standards to ensure that a member reviewer is unbiased or honest. As stated right on the HRA site, these are the requirements:
*Is your review site unbiased in reviewing haunts?
* Is the information on your site accurate to the best of your knowledge?
* Are you courteous to haunts and visitors of your site who may email you?
* Do you try to help haunts and review sites in your community?
* Do you try to update your site frequently?
* Do you review at least 10 haunts a year?

Since all of the information is self volunteered, if you are willing to lie on your application, you can get in. If you are willing to lie and cheat on reviews, I'm sure you are willing to lie and cheat on the application.

And Jolly Pumpkin doesn't just belong to the HRA, he started it. He has the right intentions trying to bring some standards and respectibility to haunt reviewing, but it is more easily said than done. When even the website for the HRA espouses the perks you might get out of haunts, I think it's a doomed venture.

I went the other way when reviewing and made sure to tell readers that I buy a ticket and see the show just like everyone else, so I get the same show they do.

Don't get me wrong, I agree something like this would be awesome if it could truly be protected. However, Jolly's hard work and great idea was lessened by that one person. It just confirms in many minds that just because a place has an endorsement/affiliation behind it, it doesn't always mean squat. A haunt will be good with or without the media. It is the paying customer that means something. Its what they say one should listen too. Not the politics of who has what, who has what kind of money or who can BS their way out of a paper bag. It really does saddened me that there is no real way to govern this crap. Censorship and control over information is never and has never been a good thing for any industry. That will be what hurts us, not the economy. We have enough crap to deal with outside our industry then to have to deal with the crap amongst ourselves. I would love nothing more to expose someone that causes us to look bad, but I have a contract with my owners and within myself to not say anything and not be the one who speaks out. So I stay away and keep quiet.

[HauntedMemphis]

That was my point as well. Although Jolly Pumpkin has great intentions here, I think that the association can't maintain quality of reviewers as it's structured.

Even with that said, I believe his site has a place to report fraudulent reviews, so I'd suggest either you, or the owners of the haunt make use of it. Without feedback, there is no way for JP to know that someone should have their assocation backing pulled.

[WelchWitch]

Actually I'm the creator, webmaster and president. I also have an HRA certified website. The association is totally non profit and I monitor all the websites that are certified. So I'm the only one puting money into it and am the only one who works on the association. It's unlike the other haunt associations out there.

Well I wish you nothing but the best Noah.We need to govern this area badly. So I hope you have much success. Your idea could be something that can help us nationwide in monitoring the crap from the good. But I also know the one website and I see what happens and what is removed and controlled. I deal with these people every year and know them from the beginning to now. So, I will finish my thoughts to say it is not my desire to hurt you and I am sorry if I implied wrong about a site buying their way in. I was wrong on that point only. I will not say anything more on this topic.

[Jolly Pumpkin]

Well whenever I hear that a review website is untrustworthy that is part of the association, I contact them to ask what is going on. If I find that they aren't obiding by the rules of the HRA, their site is pulled. I've had to do that twice with HRA certified sites. There's a reason that there are only 9 certified sites since there are tons more review websites on the internet that haven't been certified.

[HauntedMemphis]

I don't think backing off the topic is the right call, as I think there is a legitimate concern and good conversation to be had here. I just headed to Noah's site to find the actual text about his procedure.

So you know of an HRA certified site that is deliberately being dishonest with their review of your haunt for some reason or the other. Then report them to fraud@hauntreviewersassociation.com. All HRA certified sites that are proven of being dishonest will be given a warning. After their third warning they will be placed on this page and will be banned for August - November of that year.

I think if nobody reports a reviewer who does have ethics concerns, then there is no chance of it getting better as it will never be dealt with.

[WelchWitch]

I think about it every day. I would love to do it. But I have just one reason why I don't. It may not be understandable to others but it can affect me. And that word is

Repercussions.

My owners know who I am, they read my posts, They love me and I simply strongly ADORE them, so I wish nothing bad for them or myself.

[HauntedMemphis]

Hopefully the owners of your haunt will step up and report it, if not for themsleves, then for other haunts that may go through similar issues in the future.

I tried to cheat and look up which reviewer it could possibly be, but there are two possibllities.

[Haunted Illinois]

In the scheme of things, I don't think that reviews have that big of an impact on the number of tickets a haunt sells. Sure a haunt can lean on a good review and say look what so and so said about us. Who can blame them if they did. Word of mouth will make you or break you regardless of a review.

Wait, isn't this the world of technology? Isn't every teen constantly on the internet checking things out? C’mon, they live and breath by what they read on the internet! So then, aren't online reviews basically the modern equivalent of word of mouth? I have had many people tell me that they plan their haunt visits around what I write in my reviews. Don't totally dismiss online haunt reviews, because the DO matter and DO affect people's decisions.

In a perfect world the reviewers would get thier tickets in advance possibly by mail and then just show up. Reason being is that, as things are, they get a stacked show.

...I have no doubt the reviewers were first in line, saw everything, and the actors got fair warning of thier presence.

That is exactly why I never announce my review schedule. I just show up... and I don't request free tickets, either. My strategy is to sneak in, pay for my ticket and hope nobody notices me. That way I get the same show everyone else does and haunt owners never have the opportunity/time to prepare a "special show" for me. Also, I do something else to discourage anyone from giving me a special show. When I visit a haunt, if they see me or find out I am there, I always tell them that a visit doesn't necessarily mean they will get a review. I only review about 75% of the haunts that I visit. If they think they may not even get a review, then that is less incentive for them to make my tour any more special than the average Joe.

The mass media is notorious for reviewing haunts they haven't been to (or plan on going to, for that matter). In Cincinnati, they run the gamut-TV stations use stock footage from an event taken 5 years earlier (and none of which you'll find in any of the haunts currently). Newspapers have written reviews for haunts that hadn't even opened by the time the stories ran.

Unfortunately, you will always have that with the media, especially if they have a vested financial interest. I know of one haunt in the Chicagoland area that is sponsored by a large television station in the city. On this particular television station, you see this haunted house pimped left and right, as well as being bragged about regardless of the actual quality of the haunt. Unfortunately, when it comes to situations like these, money talks and there is nothing you can do about it.

I think it was Ronald Reagan who said "Given the choice betwen the critics and the box-office, I'll take the box office every time."

If you're doing well via word of mouth, advertising, and actually having a quality haunt, then it doesn't matter what a reviewer says. The public ultimately decides if a haunt is successful or not.

That is true, to a degree... but based on what I stated earlier, doesn't at least some of the general public base their decisions on haunt reviews? In this world of technology, I don't think it is at all realistic for haunters to think that online reviews won't affect their bottom line.

Besides, if online haunt reviews meant nothing, why would haunters go to such lengths to give reviewers “special shows” in the first place? The answer is that reviews actual DO matter. Just my two cents.

[shawnc]

Hey Adam,

How many haunts do you get to see in an average season?

[Haunted Illinois]

On average, probably about 25+

[dr0zombie]

If someone is happy with an event word of mouth advertising in text and Facebook will outrun any single site for reviews. The one advantage of the digital world is that news travels fast. For the less than quality events, bad news even faster.... besides... who the hell reads a newspaper anymore?? No one. Trust me on this, I am a used to be pressman.

[Jolly Pumpkin]

I review 60+ haunts and at the end of the season have written somewhere close to 150 pages worth of reviews. I'm also not including pictures, videos, answering questions, replying on my message board, updating the site, answering emails, talking to haunts on the phone etc. Then before the haunt season I'm doing interviews, articles, posting news updating the website etc and this is just including my review website. This doesn't include my Halloween website, The Halloween Database. This last weekend I traveled close to 1,000 miles just to review haunts and at the end of October will have driven over 10,000 miles worth and spent lots of hours putting reviews on the website as well as money.

[WelchWitch]

Noah-

FYI- I responded you to in a private message.

[WelchWitch]

Hopefully the owners of your haunt will step up and report it, if not for themsleves, then for other haunts that may go through similar issues in the future.

I tried to cheat and look up which reviewer it could possibly be, but there are two possibllities.

I have permission now to talk to certain degree and we will be pressing charges after the season is over. We want the truth to come out once and for all. This will have a major wave affect. We agree we need to bring up the negative in this industry to help make the positive better. This person is also a member here along with other locations.