[Notspot]

This is such an interesting question.

When I first put my site up I was maybe a bit too honest in my reviews. A example would be that I found that I had played Prima for a couple of years and had consistently had problems with the Prima software overheating my laptop after a few hours of multitable play - to the point of having to put the laptop on the cold tiled floor to finish off a particularly long tourney on a number of occasions. This annoyed me so I put it in the review. Well, I received 3 emails (which is actually an avalanche for a new site) from players saying they multitabled and it had never happened to them. I wasn't sure what to do - I tested it with a brand new TOTR laptop and sure enough it crashed (through overheating) after 3 and a half hours of play. Anyhow, I removed the comment and starting getting sign-ups for that room (hadn't had any up til that point).

I still cringe when I look at that review 'cos I know it should be in there but if other players don't experience it and it stops people signing up what's the point? Am I just venting my anger at a problem that only seems to affect me?

Most of my reviews have a few of the room's bad points pointed out as I feel it builds trust. If you've played on Party for a while and know the bad points, why would you trust a site that said FTP was the bees knees if they don't mention those bad points in their party review?

As for top ten lists, people do like them, I notice from my stats that alot of visitors head for the top ten list and waddle off to FTP without reading any of the reviews. I've been under alot of pressure from a couple of rooms to put them in the No.1 spot - so they obviously understand the value of being No.1. It's a great resource for new players, who don't understand or care about the subtle differences between the rooms that we old-hats ponder over. If you just want a game of poker and you don't care where, a top ten list is great. Our top ten list is more of a personal top 10, no points system but more of a 'what order I would recommend sites to a friend'. I'd rather not have the top ten if it was just a list of who paid me the most, I'd feel I was letting people down. But maybe that's why I'm not a baller affiliate? Maybe you have to sell your soul to make the real big bucks?

I feel part of the art of running a good poker portal is balancing the need to retain your integrity (and loyal players) and encouraging people to try a new room. Or am I just being naive?