Community Guidelines

Everything on this platform is built on five principles. They guide every moderation decision, every feature, and every policy.

• Authenticity. Real reviews from real people with genuine experience. That's the whole point. If a review isn't based on first-hand use, it doesn't belong here.
• Accuracy. Factual claims should be truthful and verifiable. We understand software experiences vary — but outright fabrication is a different thing entirely.
• Integrity. No manipulation, no fake reviews, no gaming the system. If you're trying to artificially inflate or tank a product's score, you're in the wrong place.
• Respect. Disagree with a product, a vendor, or another reviewer — that's fine. Keep it professional. No personal attacks, no threats, no discrimination.
• Independence. Our editorial decisions are not influenced by vendors. Full stop. No vendor can pay for better placement, suppress a negative review, or influence how content is moderated.

We're a platform for mining professionals. The bar for who can write a review is straightforward:

• You must have genuine, first-hand experience with the software you're reviewing. Watched a demo once? That's not enough.
• You must be a mining industry professional — geologist, mining engineer, plant operator, drill and blast engineer, IT specialist, operations manager, project geologist, or similar role.
• You must not be a current employee of the vendor whose product you're reviewing — unless you clearly disclose the relationship. Former employees are welcome to review, with disclosure.
• One review per product per person. If your experience changes, update your existing review rather than submitting a new one.
• You must use a real identity, verified through our platform processes. Anonymous hit jobs aren't useful to anyone.

What makes a good review:

• Based on direct, first-hand experience — not hearsay, not what your mate reckons, not what you read on LinkedIn.
• Covers specific aspects of the software. We rate across 10 dimensions — Ease of Use, Implementation & Onboarding, Customer Support, Value for Money, Reliability, Integration, Reporting, Training & Documentation, Suitability for Purpose, and Mobile/Field Usability.
• Provides context: your role, the commodity, operation scale, and how long you've used the software. A review from a gold open-pit geologist means something different to a coal underground operations manager.
• Balanced. Includes both strengths and weaknesses. A review that's all 10s or all 1s with no explanation is useless to readers.
• Uses professional language. The occasional swear word is fine — we work in mining, not a monastery. Slurs, hate speech, and targeted abuse are not.

What is NOT allowed:

• Reviews written by or on behalf of the vendor being reviewed
• Reviews written in exchange for compensation from a vendor (gift cards, discounts, free licences, anything of value)
• Deliberately false or fabricated claims
• Content that reveals confidential or proprietary site information — specific ore grades, production figures, reserve estimates, or safety incident details (see Section 9)
• Personal attacks on named individuals
• Discriminatory, threatening, or harassing content
• Spam, advertising, or promotional content
• Content that violates intellectual property rights
• Content solicited through coercion or incentive manipulation by vendors

Vendors who claim their profile on Mining Software Reviews get real benefits — updated product info, public responses to reviews, and visibility into how users rate their software. In return, we expect honest conduct. Here are the rules:

• Do not suppress, edit, or attempt to remove genuine reviews. Negative feedback is part of having a product in the market.
• Do not incentivise customers to leave positive reviews — no gift cards, no discounts, no conference perks, no "we'll prioritise your support ticket if you leave a review."
• Do not coerce or threaten customers regarding their reviews. This includes subtle pressure like renegotiating contract terms after a negative review.
• Do not submit reviews for your own products. We will find them.
• Do not create fake accounts to post reviews or inflate ratings.
• You may respond publicly and professionally to reviews. Acknowledge concerns, provide context, explain what you're doing about it. Readers respect vendors who engage honestly.
• You may flag reviews you believe violate these guidelines. Provide a specific reason — "we don't like it" is not a valid flag.
• Provide accurate product information on your claimed profile. Don't list features you haven't shipped.
• Do not engage in astroturfing or coordinated review campaigns. If we detect a pattern of suspiciously similar reviews arriving within the same timeframe, we investigate.

Transparency matters. Here's how moderation works on this platform:

• Reviews are subject to quality checks which may include pattern recognition, linguistic analysis, and anomaly detection. These processes are continually developed and improved as the platform grows.
• Flagged content receives human review from MSR staff.
• Reviewer identity is verified separately from review content. We confirm you're a real person with genuine experience — we don't pre-screen what you say.
• We look for: coordinated campaigns, suspicious timing patterns, duplicate content across accounts, and signs of incentivised reviews.
• We do NOT verify the factual accuracy of individual opinions or experiences. If you say the support team took three weeks to respond, that's your experience. The vendor can respond with their side.
• We DO verify that the reviewer has genuine experience with the product.

If you see content that violates these guidelines, flag it. Here's how the process works:

• Any user can flag a review or profile for violating these guidelines.
• Vendors can flag reviews through their claimed profile dashboard.
• All flags are reviewed by MSR staff. We read every one.
• Flagging a review does not guarantee removal. A negative review is not the same as a policy violation.
• We may contact the reviewer for clarification before taking action.

You can also report issues directly by emailing hello@miningsoftwarereviews.com.

We don't enjoy removing content or banning people. We'd rather everyone just played straight. But when guidelines are breached, we respond proportionally:

For reviewers:

• First violation: Warning and content edit or removal.
• Repeated violations: Temporary restriction from posting.
• Serious violations: Permanent ban from the platform.

For vendors:

• Minor violations: Warning and corrective action.
• Serious violations: Profile suspension and loss of claimed status.
• Egregious violations: Permanent delisting from the platform.

For coordinated manipulation:

• Immediate removal of all associated content and accounts. No warnings. If you organised a campaign to game ratings — whether to boost your product or tank a competitor — everything linked to that effort gets pulled.

Let's be upfront about how incentives work on this platform:

• MSR may occasionally offer small incentives to encourage reviews — for example, entry into a prize draw. These incentives come from the platform, not from vendors.
• All reviews submitted as part of an MSR incentive programme are clearly labelled as such.
• Incentives are never conditional on positive ratings. You get the same entry for a 2-star review as a 10-star review.
• Vendor-incentivised reviews are prohibited unless explicitly disclosed and approved by MSR in advance. If a vendor asks you to review their product in exchange for something, report it to us.

Mining is a tight-knit industry. Sites have legitimate confidentiality requirements, and publicly listed companies have continuous disclosure obligations. Your review should share your honest experience without crossing into territory that could get you — or your employer — into trouble.

Do NOT include in your review:

• Specific production data, ore grades, or reserve/resource figures
• Safety incident details that could identify a specific site
• Information covered by NDAs or confidentiality agreements
• Unreleased financial, operational, or strategic information

You CAN and should include:

• Your general experience with the software and honest assessment of how it performed
• General operation type — open pit, underground, or both
• Commodity type (gold, iron ore, coal, copper, etc.)
• General scale (small, mid-tier, major producer) without identifying your specific site
• How long you used the software and in what capacity

If in doubt, keep it general. The value of your review comes from your honest assessment of the software, not from site-specific data.

If your review is removed or your account is restricted, we owe you an explanation and a fair process:

• If your review is removed, you will be notified with the specific reason.
• You may appeal the decision within 30 days of notification.
• Appeals are reviewed by a different moderator than the one who made the original decision.
• Final decisions rest with MSR. We aim to be fair, but the platform's call is the platform's call.

To submit an appeal, email hello@miningsoftwarereviews.com with the subject line "Review Appeal" and include the product name and your account details.

This is a living document. As the community grows and we learn what works and what doesn't, we'll update these guidelines. When we make material changes, we'll announce them. Continued use of the platform after updates constitutes acceptance of the revised guidelines.