How ratings work

Two numbers can sit on a page, and they never mix.

1 · The community rating

This is yours — the people who went there. It's a careful average, built so that a single review can't swing it and old news fades without vanishing.

• Everyone starts in the middle. Before anyone writes, each place is treated as if it already had four reviews of 3 out of 5. So one glowing review gives about 3.4, not 5.0 — and one harsh review gives about 2.6, not 1.0. As real reviews come in, they quickly outweigh the starting four.
• Newer reviews count more. A review loses half its weight each year, but never drops below a quarter. Places change; old reviews still matter a little.
• Reviews from people connected to the business are shown, but not counted. Owners, staff, family and competitors can post — with a label — and their stars stay out of the number.
• We show the plain average too, and how many people gave each score, so you can see the whole picture.

score = (4 × 3.0 + Σ wᵢ·starsᵢ) ÷ (4 + Σ wᵢ)
wᵢ = max(0.25, 0.5^(age in days ÷ 365))

Example: three reviews this month — 5, 5 and 4 — give (12 + 14) ÷ (4 + 3) = 3.7. With ten such reviews it's about 4.2, and the plain average (4.7) sits beside it.

2 · Our take (editorial)

Christopher Whiten (Grand Canyon Computers / Re4urbished) may write his own take on a place. It is labeled editorial, sits in its own box, and is never part of the community rating. Because we built these businesses' websites, read it as a friend's opinion, not a neutral one. We give no editorial rating at all to the places we run ourselves.

What earns a mark

• Scanned in person — opened from the card at the business. A card can be photographed and shared, so this is a strong hint, not proof; each scan works for one review within 72 hours.
• Ordered here — linked to a real order through the business's ordering page. One review per order.
• Signed in — signed in with r4 ID (Google or an email link). One review per person per place.
• Not verified — posted without signing in. These are checked for spam by a person before they appear. The stars never decide that.

Marks are about where a review came from. Every published review counts the same in the score, whatever its mark.

What we never do

• Never write, buy, or ask AI to write reviews. Every review here was written by a person who chose to.
• Never hide or bury a review for being negative. "Most recent" is the default order; you can also sort lowest first.
• Never let a business pay to change its score.