1. Why we moderate
Reviews are the highest-leverage trust signal on TechDirectory. A fake five-star review costs a buyer real money; a fake one-star review costs a vendor their reputation. Our policy is therefore biased toward rejecting suspicious submissions, not approving everything.
2. Who can submit a review
- You must hold a TechDirectory account, registered with an email address we can correspond with.
- You must confirm — via a tickbox on the review form — that you have worked with the company you are reviewing, either as a paying customer or in a documented commercial capacity.
- You can submit only one review per company. Updates to an existing review are encouraged when a working relationship evolves; they are re-moderated as new submissions.
- Anonymous submissions, vendor-self-reviews, and reviews from email domains belonging to the company being reviewed are rejected.
3. What we publish
Every approved review on TechDirectory has passed all of the following checks:
- Identity check. The reviewer's account is in good standing; the email domain is plausible for the stated job title.
- Substance check. The review body is at least 30 words, references concrete details (services used, time period, outcome), and does not contain templated language.
- Bias check. Reviews submitted by competitors, ex-employees within 12 months of leaving, or anyone with a documented financial interest in the company being reviewed are rejected. We ask reviewers to disclose this on the form.
- Coordination check. Bursts of reviews from the same IP range, the same referrer, or within a few minutes of each other are held for additional review. We do not publish suspected review bombs in either direction.
4. What we reject
The following submission patterns are auto-rejected or held for manual review:
- Reviews offered in exchange for compensation, discounts, gift cards, or product samples.
- Reviews written by the vendor's own staff, agents, or paid marketing contractors.
- Reviews containing personal attacks, defamation, racial slurs, or any content that violates Singapore law.
- Reviews referencing legal disputes that are still under investigation or before the courts.
- Reviews that disclose confidential commercial terms (contract values, NDAs, undisclosed pricing) without the vendor's consent.
5. Right of reply
Claimed companies receive an email notification when a review about them is published. Owners can post one threaded response per review, visible directly under the original. Responses are moderated to the same standards: they must be factual, non-defamatory, and signed by a verified representative of the company.
6. How we handle disputes
If a vendor believes a review is fraudulent, defamatory, or breaches this policy, they can contact us at [email protected] with the URL of the review and a short explanation. We will:
- Acknowledge receipt within 2 business days.
- Investigate the reviewer's identity and the substance of the dispute within 5 business days.
- Make a moderation decision: keep, edit (for compliance with this policy), or remove. We document the decision on the review row internally.
- Reply to the disputing vendor with the decision and our reasoning.
We do not remove reviews simply because a vendor disagrees with them. We remove reviews because they violate this policy.
7. Reviewer protection
We never sell or share reviewer email addresses with vendors. A vendor can see the reviewer's display name, job title, and review content. They cannot see the reviewer's email, IP address, or any other personally identifying data we hold.
8. Transparency
This page documents our actual practice; it is not aspirational. When we change moderation rules, we update this page and the "Last updated" date at the top. Significant rule changes are also announced on our news page.
9. Contact
Questions about a specific review, our policy, or moderation decisions: [email protected]. General feedback: [email protected].