We have not had any cases of the author of a mini-review writing a review for payment, but with all the current publicity around these pay-per-post services which are paying people to write about products, i thought we should be proactive.
I have added a field to the mini review template which explicitly requires mini-review authors to disclose any relationship they might have with a product/company they are reviewing. This will be present in our full reviews as well:
Remember, any time you write about any program/service whose relationship to you is not obvious by the nature of the post, you must disclose your relationship. Furthermore, we do not allow people to make paid posts on this forum, even with disclosure.
I think these rules are important in ensuring that the opinions you read on this forum and website reflect the real views of real people.
Unlike many sites, we welcome authors to post about their own software here, in the appropriate places and with a clear indication that they are talking about their own stuff.