Dentacoin Steps in as a Review Vetting Tool With Mobile Payments Support

August 15, 2018 By: Steven Anderson

In days past, when we wanted reviews, we’d turn to trusted figures employed with large websites, but that’s gone somewhat by the wayside in favor of “influencers”, or regular people with gigantic followings. We’ll also take the word of random strangers who review a product for nothing, or at the outside, a free sample from the company. Dentacoin, meanwhile, recently dropped word our way about the potential of using blockchain to make sure online reviews are valid.

What Dentacoin brought up was a novel concept. Essentially, it wanted to use Dentacoin as a way to ensure the online reviews we read are from people who have actually used a certain dentist. Since Dentacoin focuses on dental practices, and dental practitioners, it’s no surprise it would specialize in this way.

While we used to turn to our friends and family for information about dentists with whom these most trusted folks have had a long association, our highly mobile culture demands a new approach. This is where Dentacoin’s approach—dubbed the Dentacoin Trusted Review platform—allows for sufficient vetting that makes the reviews therein almost as trustworthy as those from our friends and family. Reviewers and dentists can then receive Dentacoin as a reward for involvement.

Of course, some here might see this as a way to taint reviews in reverse. While fake reviews can be a problem, “real” reviews can be faked in such a way as to even beat this concept. Sometimes called “seeding” or “cherrypicking,” it’s a process in which product suppliers pick and choose the reviews they want. Since Dentacoin’s system works on invitation only, you can just about bet that no one who’s particularly disgruntled as they leave the office will ever see an invitation. About the last thing a dentist wants to see in the list of his reviews is the one-star that says “This man is incompetent! If I wanted to swallow that much blood, I’d move to Forks, Washington and invest in glitter makers!”

While Dentacoin’s plan does help online reviews on one front, it may well hurt their validity in a separate direction. Still, it’s good to see someone step in to help the online review game, or at least try to.