Thanks for the comments folks.

I'll still be doing anonymous drop-in reviews cause that's too much fun. Paid 'reviews' have gotten the attention of dispensaries or mmj services who really have their sheit together and want to show it off (ie market); as well as receive 6-7 photos they can use anywhere. So yes, for some, thestrainman.com is definitely a marketing tool. In these cases I will always say something like 'so and so dispensary ASKED me to come out and check things out'. If any one has ideas regarding how I can make this distinction more clear, please lemme know.

that said, I am about to drop the word 'review' from my paid services page because as you pointed out, that word has connotations that the review is anonymous. I still want to offer a way for dispensaries to market themselves with great quality photos of their shop and wares, so I'm still offering the same service, just got to wrap it differently. I definitely don't want to appear as a sell-out, cause all I ever wanted to do was to connect patients with the meds/caregivers they need.

and Lampost, thanks for bringing up the point on negative reviews. That's right, I would rather share with everyone the good places/meds I find rather than dwell on all the negative crap I find. Of course if a shop is screwin people over with high prices or substandard nugs (wet, mold, pests), I WILL ALWAYS LET PEOPLE KNOW and would never ever sell out to my patient friends!!! Believe me, I've thought about this a lot and did plenty of research online regarding how world-famous critics and reviewers handle negativity. Beleive it or not, they are really honest about their practices... All the ones I've read felt the same way - there's too much great product out there so show people that. Along these lines, I'll be dropping the grading scale for the various aspects of dispensaries and if there's something negative, I'd rather present constructiive criticism rather than a bad grade.

Again thanks for the comments. Please let me know how I can better the site and if anyone needs me to code up more functionality that will help (I'm a software engineer and web developer for over a decade so building web stuff is a passion)

The Strain Man

Quote Originally Posted by smokypants
FYI, Strain Man is selling reviews according to his website, with a cost of $300 for a dispensary review. As a fan of reading reviews in general (movies, restaurants, etc.), that is a practice that calls into question the credibility of the reviewer. He claims he will remain unbiased, but he's now reviewing customers who paid a pretty large sum instead of just reviewing the dispensary without their prior knowledge (assuming that was his prior approach). I'll pass on believing he can remain unbiased while selling reviews. It's a built-in conflict of interest.

I don't begrudge him or anyone else trying to earn money, but selling reviews changes him from an amateur critic to a paid marketing instrument.
TheStrainMan Reviewed by TheStrainMan on . The Strain Man Great web site, awesome photography. The Strain Man Home Rating: 5