Five artifacts. One question each: was this trust conferred — or bought?
One word, two jobs. Here, rented means the proof itself was manufactured — bought, staged or incentivised. That is different from a rented route, which is what the rest of this site measures: real attention that reaches you through someone else, and a perfectly legitimate way to be found. The route audit uses the second meaning.
Practice
Missed a day, or just arrived? Replay a random past day. Practice rounds don't carry a streak.
The eight tells (field guide)
Timing clusters — conferral trickles; purchases arrive in batches. Check for weather before you call the van.
Template language — the same skeleton across "different" voices; superlatives without specifics.
Incentive residue — the buried #partner, the points-for-praise, the recommendation that reads like an invoice.
Reciprocity rings — A endorses B endorses C endorses A, same week. Rings are round for a reason.
Specificity inversion — fake praise is precise about the brochure and vague about the experience. Real praise is the reverse.
The wrong flaw — "my only complaint: it's TOO good." Real flaws cost someone something.
Engagement mismatch — 400k followers, 60 likes. The audience can be purchased; the attention can't.
Manufactured urgency — a countdown in a thank-you note. Watch which direction the pressure pushes.
The long version, with worked examples of each tell and five real reviews that break
every rule in the standard checklist: How to spot fake reviews →