Way to leave an anonymous review on Google+

google-plus

You used to be able to leave anonymous reviews using Google+. Is there any way to do that anymore? Not sure if giving your full name and photo with your review is wise.

Best Answer

There is no longer a way to leave anonymous reviews using Google+.

I have found most reviewers to leave honest feedback and most businesses strive to make improvements in response to customer feedback. I find this policy change of showing people's names forced on Google. Being an anonymous user gives people the power to say things they never would normally. Because some people have abused this power now all the rest of us are being "punished."

Legal reasons

The most important reason that real names should be used comes down to the USA legal system. Whoever stands to lose the most is given preferential treatment (this is why pedestrians have the right of way). So we now have two situations (both of which are not likely but possible).

  1. Users being hounded by businesses to change their review.
  2. Anonymous users posting a horrible, untrue review.

In case 1: being hounded could cause serious issues in a person's life (but in many cases this is simply viewed as an irritant) and there are many avenues of recourse available to people who are being hounded. The main one being to sue a business that does this.

In case 2: a horrible review could cause negative publicity and could even put a business out of operation, which would be far more damaging than an irritant. More than this, there is absolutely no recourse of action a business could take in this situation unless they already have a good idea who made this comment, and even then possibly not due to free speech.