Fair to readers, fair to businesses

Writing a review

Naming people

At hospitals, clinics, schools and places of worship, staff are described by role only. Anyone named or described in a review can ask to be taken out; we answer in writing within 21 days, and first ask the reviewer to edit.

Places that need care

Some places are reviewed with extra rules, to protect patients, children, worshippers, residents and the reviewers themselves. They are scored and ordered exactly like every other place; only what may be written, and who reads it first, differs.

• Hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, laboratories, dental and eye clinics, maternity homes

  • Checked against a public record before it's listed
  • Staff by role only
  • Never on a reviewer's profile

  Facilities only, never an individual practitioner. Staff by role only; the head by title. Never another patient's details or anyone else's diagnosis or treatment. The reviewer's own health details only with their confirmation. Negligence, malpractice or a death is always held for a person; safeguarding content is never published.

• Services whose name reveals a condition: mental health, addiction, HIV and sexual health, fertility, prayer and healing camps

  • Listed only if it chooses to be
  • Every review read first
  • Staff by role only
  • Reviewers shown as initials
  • Never on a reviewer's profile

  Listed only if the service opts in. Every review is read first; reviewers show as initials. Never any detail of another person's condition or treatment.

• Schools for children, from crèche and nursery to senior high school

  • Checked against a public record before it's listed
  • Every review read first
  • Staff by role only
  • Never on a reviewer's profile
  • One review a person every 12 months

  Adults only, stating their link to the school; staff of the school can't review it. Never a child's name or anything that could identify a child. Staff by role only; the head by title. Every review is read first. Anything about harm to a child is never published.

• Places of worship: churches, mosques, temples and other congregations

  • Checked against a public record before it's listed
  • Every review read first
  • Staff by role only
  • Never on a reviewer's profile

  Reviews are about the place as a venue and community, never a faith or its beliefs. Never a congregant by name or description; clergy by role, the leader by title. Every review is read first. Agoo never records a reviewer's religion.

• Gated residential estates (the estate itself; developers and management companies are ordinary businesses)

  • Listed only if it chooses to be
  • Every review read first
  • Staff by role only
  • Never on a reviewer's profile

  Only if the estate opts in, and only about management and the gate service. Never residents' names, house or plot numbers, who lives where or when people are away, or the gate's procedures.

• Security sites (installations, prisons, cash centres, data centres, embassies, guarded client sites)

  • Listed only if it chooses to be
  • Every review read first
  • Staff by role only

  Never listed by the public and never auto-listed; a public-facing counter may opt in. Nothing describing how any place is guarded is ever published, on any page.

• Private homes are never listed. A business run from home, such as a seamstress or a barber, can be, but shows its town only, never a street or digital address.

When a review is held or removed

A review is held for a person to read, or removed, only for one of these reasons. Never because of its stars, and never because a business asks. Moderators never change a review’s words, and both sides are told why.

A child could be identified

It names a child or says enough to identify one.

A court order

A court ordered it to be removed.

A duplicate

The same person already reviewed this place.

A person named against the rules

It names a member of staff in a way the rules for this kind of place don't allow.

About a different place

It is about a different business or branch.

Advertising or spam

It advertises something or is spam.

An accusation of a crime against a person

It accuses an identifiable person of a crime. Report crimes to the police.

Conflict of interest

It was written by someone connected to the business or a competitor.

Hate or harassment

It attacks people for who they are, or harasses someone.

Health, faith or other private facts about someone else

It reveals private facts about another person, such as their health or religion.

Not a genuine experience

It doesn't describe the reviewer's own experience of this place.

Not about the place

It isn't about the place or the service.

Personal details

It shares someone's personal details, such as a phone number, address or full name where that isn't allowed.

Rewarded or requested selectively

It was offered a reward, or asked for only because the experience was good.

Safeguarding concern

It raises harm to a person, which belongs with the police or the regulator, not on a public page.

Security details

It describes how a place is guarded or protected.

Threats or violence

It threatens or encourages violence.

Unlawful content

It breaks the law in another way, such as defamation found after a legal notice.

Rules for businesses

Reports and legal notices