minus1ratingFile a Burn

minus1rating

Editorial Standard · Rev. 2026

The complaint
goes on record.

Not in an inbox. Not in a survey. Not behind a closed support ticket. On a permanent, public, searchable ledger — where every consumer who shares the same experience adds to the weight of evidence.

§ 01 · The Problem

The complaint was
designed to disappear.

For decades, consumer complaints have been routed into private channels — customer support queues, survey forms, social media posts — where they can be managed, ignored, or buried by the party with the most resources.

A brand with 10,000 complaints can absorb them quietly. A consumer with one complaint has almost no leverage. The information asymmetry is structural, and it is deliberate.

minus1rating changes the equation. Every complaint becomes a public record. Every shared experience becomes data. And data, aggregated and indexed, tells a story no press release can overwrite.

320M+
Complaints filed privately each year
Estimated global figure
~14%
That receive a substantive response
Industry average
< 1%
That are ever made public
Estimated visible complaints
$890
Average consumer loss per incident
Direct monetary harm only
§ 02 · The Method

How a filing works

Three steps · Under 10 minutes
I

Identify & File

Name the brand. Select the industry. Write a clear, factual headline. Describe the sequence of events as they happened — dates, names, reference numbers. We ask for precision, not drama.

  • ◆Brand and sector identification
  • ◆Factual narrative account
  • ◆Date of incident
II

Lock the Evidence

Upload whatever documentation you have. Receipts, invoices, email threads, chat transcripts, photographs. Assign a monetary value to your loss. Zero is valid — not every harm is financial.

  • ◆Receipts and invoices
  • ◆Email and chat transcripts
  • ◆Photographs and screenshots
  • ◆Monetary loss quantification
III

Enter the Record

Your case is published to the Global Feed and indexed under the brand. Other consumers can add a [-1] if they have shared the same experience. The brand's cumulative record updates in real time.

  • ◆Published to Global Feed
  • ◆Indexed under brand
  • ◆Community [-1] citations
  • ◆Real-time brand record update
§ 03 · The Citation System

What [-1] means.

A [-1] is not a like button. It is a citation — a statement by a consumer that says: "I have experienced this too."

When a case reaches 1,000 citations, it signals a pattern. When it reaches 10,000, it signals a systemic failure. The number is not sentiment — it is a count of shared experiences, each one representing a real person with a real complaint.

The cumulative citation volume drives a brand's rank on the Wall of Shame, determines trending status, and forms the evidentiary weight that regulators, journalists, and class-action attorneys can reference.

Citation Thresholds
100 [-1]
Pattern signal
Enough to establish that an experience is shared
1,000 [-1]
Systemic indicator
Sufficient for media pickup and regulatory notice
10,000 [-1]
Brand-level event
Enters the Wall of Shame top tier. Legal attention common.
50,000+ [-1]
National record
Class-action pool threshold in multiple jurisdictions
§ 04 · Who It Serves

The ledger works for everyone.

◈

Consumers

  • —A permanent record that cannot be deleted by the brand
  • —Community validation — know you are not alone
  • —A structured, evidence-based format that holds up
  • —Direct line to class-action aggregation pools
  • —Brands are notified and given the right of reply
◉

Future Consumers

  • —Search any brand before spending money
  • —See the full history of complaints, not the curated review
  • —Filter by sector, harm type, and resolution status
  • —Read evidence directly — not summaries
  • —Know which brands have resolved issues vs. ignored them
◎

Brands on the Record

  • —A verified portal to respond publicly to cases
  • —Issue refunds and corrections on the timeline
  • —Move cases from Unresolved to Resolved — on the record
  • —Demonstrate accountability to consumers
  • —The record shows what you did, not just what happened
§ 05 · The Permanence Principle

The record stays.

A case filed on minus1rating does not expire. It is not removed when a brand requests it. It is not hidden when a settlement is reached. Resolutions are recorded on the same timeline as the original complaint — so consumers can see not just what went wrong, but whether and how it was made right.
0
Cases removed on brand request
100%
Resolved cases still on record
Permanent
Years of retention
§ 06 · The Ledger to Date
218,447
Grievances on record
$94.2M
Consumer loss documented
3,812
Brands under audit
1,204
Resolved this week
Your Turn

Has a brand
failed you?

It takes under 10 minutes. The record is permanent. And every [-1] you add to an existing case helps the next consumer who faces the same wall.

File Your Burn →Browse the Feed
Do I need an account to file?
No account is required to read the ledger. Filing a case requires a free account so we can maintain the integrity of the public record.
Can brands remove my filing?
No. Brands can respond to your filing and mark cases as resolved, but the original filing — and the brand's response — remain on the record permanently.
What if I made an error in my filing?
You can edit factual details within 48 hours of filing. After that, amendments are logged as corrections on the case timeline.
Is anonymous filing allowed?
Yes. You can file without your name appearing publicly. Only your state or region is shown. Your identity is verified privately but not disclosed.