Rotten Tomatoes further dilutes its utility with 'Verified Hot' badge

Rotten Tomatoes just added a new "Verified Hot" badge that indicates an overall positive user score that will join the "Certified Fresh" badge for critic scores. To qualify for this designation, a movie or show needs to have a Verified Audience Score of 90 percent or higher. Finally, the dregs will be slapped with a "Stale" badge, which is for any show or movie that falls beneath 60 percent. Rotten Tomatoes is trying to get around review bombing here by mandating that user reviews be from people who actually saw the movie in question. There are a couple of little problems with this. It verifies that a consumer saw the movie via the ticketing firm Fandango, and there are plenty of other ticketing firms out there, including, you know, the theater cashier.