Reviewer Policy

VELP has instituted an internal policy for staff conducting venue reviews. The purpose of this policy is to help maintain fairness, consistency, and credibility in our evaluations, while providing venue owners, staff, and readers a view of the standard to which we hold ourselves.

This is a living, breathing document. Since VELP's inception, we have been challenged and received feedback that has caused us to re-evaluate our policy and practice more than once.

This document was last updated on April 23, 2024.

Reviewer Hiring Policy

Vacant positions will be advertised on Discord, social media, and the VELP website
Hiring will be based upon the following criteria:
1. The applicant has the ability to communicate in English
2. The applicant can commit to two reviews per month, unless otherwise negotiated
3. The applicant understands they are to not disclose their identity to anyone other than the editor in chief or managing edit
4. Applicants have experience owning, operating, managing, or staffing role-play venues
5. Applicants agree to adhere to the Review Policy

Review Policy

Reviews will be a two-pronged process as of April 23, 2024
Reviewers will select review subjects from the queue of consent-obtained venues
Reviewers may not review a venue if:
- They own or work for a venue
- They previously owned or worked for a venue
- They are close associates with the owner or staff of a venue
- They have frequented a venue more than three times previously
- They have frequented a venue within the past six months
- They have a difficult relationship with the owner or staff of a venue
If a reviewer is outed during the process of reviewing a venue, they will pass the job back to the queue for another staff member to complete.
Venues must be visited by reviewers at least twice, in either of these forms:
- Two separate days on separate bodies
- Same day, at least an hour apart, on separate bodies
- Must engage in a different way. i.e. sit at bar during first visit, sit at table second

Corrections & Clarification Policy

Corrections, other than spelling or grammar corrections, will result in the posting of a notice at the start of the review. This notice will indicate the error corrected.
A clarification may happen at the start of a review or inline to the section clarified, as decided by the editor.
Corrections or clarifications may be prompted by internal review or outside feedback.
Corrections and clarification should be completed within 24 hours of becoming aware of the error or ambiguous statement(s).

Review Removal Policy

VELP may remove reviews if the situation merits review removal.
Owners of venues may request removal of the review. Owners must justify their request. Disliking a review is not enough of a reason to remove the review.
VELP may internally decide to remove a review. Reasons for this may include
- Discovery of reviewer malfeasance
- Discovery of use of AI in review writing process
- Change of internal policy
- Secondary review of a venue reveals the original review was completed without the average venue experience

Reviewer Dismissal Policy

VELP may remove staff from its employment if:
- Staff openly reveal their identity
- Staff knowingly violate policy
- Staff deliberately write reviews to cause harm

As stated previously, these policies are a living, breathing document and is subject to change. Recommendations, opinions, and policy building takes place on our public discord, where community members may participate in the workshopping and polishing of policy.

We also factor in feedback obtained from members of other discords, conversations amongst staff, email, contact form, and social media feedback.

We appreciate your time in sending us your feedback. While we may eventually decide on an agree to disagree result, we do our best to understand and review ourselves through your eyes.