The ladder
Trust ladder, not stars
Every review on Sorted carries a weight. The more we can verify that the reviewer actually lived in the property, the more their review counts toward the society's public rating. Weights are public and the ladder is the same for every reviewer. There is no hidden reputation.
- 01
Bronze
0.5× / 0.7×Signed in · email gate
You signed in via Google. Reviews count at 0.5× until you click the magic link we send to confirm your email, the contact hook we need for moderation. Email-verified Bronze reviews count at 0.7×.
- 02
Silver
0.8×Email verified · 3 approved reviews
Sustained good-faith activity on top of a verified email. Three reviews surviving moderation is a behavioural signal that's hard to fake at scale, so we count Silver reviews at 0.8×.
- 03
Gold
1.0×Resident verified
You confirmed residency with a document that matches the society you reviewed. This is the baseline we anchor aggregates to.
- 04
Founding resident
1.2×First verified voice
A resident-verified reviewer who wrote one of the first three reviews on a society. Their review carries slightly more weight because it sets the early signal others measure against. Automatic, no application.
How the average is computed
The rating on a society page is a weighted average, not a simple mean: each review's rating is multiplied by its trust weight, the results are added up, then divided by the total weight. A Gold-verified 4-star review moves the number more than a Bronze 5-star one. When the sample is small, the rating reflects what the early residents thought; as it grows, verified voices dominate.
No tier can delete a review. No tier can edit an aggregate. If something looks wrong, use the grievance channel.