Frequently Asked Questions

You want my real name, but reviews are anonymous. What gives?

We want to make sure that there are verification processes in place. You deserve to know that every review you are reading is from a real person, so we are working to make that a thing. Don't worry, though: your name and email will never be publicly associated with a review, and we will never disclose your identity to a resource without your express permission.

What types of resources can I review?

If it pertains to anyone the Veteran community (Veteran, Family, Caregiver, Servicemember), rate it. Government services, not-for-profits, for-profits with Veteran services, and school Veteran programs, all of them can be reviewed.

You mean I can review VA hospitals, too? How?

Everyone should get feedback, even the VA. Just select your hospital and select the tag for the department you want to review. We just ask that you please don’t include specific names, even for positive reviews.

The organization I want to review isn’t listed! Oh no! Now what?

Don’t panic! There's a link for that. Just tell us the basics and write your review, and leave the rest to us. We added the ability for you to tell us what organization you are reviewing, right down to the chapter/region level. Within 24 hours, we will add the rest of the organization details and create the page, and your review will be listed on the page when it goes live. Plus, you’ll get an email from us telling you to check it out. You’ll have contributed to our site by having us add whole pages. You have the power *cue awesome dance tune*!

What’s with the math in the ratings, nerds?

Yes, you can just go with the overall rating, but that's not so specific. We want you to know more about interactions. When you write a review, you can get a little more specific about how nice people were, how long they took to get back to you, and so on, and we average that together. It helps the organization a lot more than all 5s or all 1s.

Oops, I made a mistake after I hit submit and need to change my review a little. Can I?

To make a change to an existing review, just contact us and we will fix it for you.

I had another interaction with the same program. What now?

You can also write an update to a previous review by going to your activity page. This will help you see your progression in an organization over time! Or you can just write a brand new review (it will still show up in your activity page, just not linked to the old review)

Do you edit reviews?

Nope! Only if you used an individual name or language your mother would tell you isn’t for polite company (even though we know you say it too, Mom), in which case you'll see a redacted note. Organizations will never have the ability to edit your writing.

What are these "Challenge Coins" everyone is talking about?

Challenge coins earn you bragging rights and status as an active user. Right now they earn you a title that shows how active you are in the Pathfinder.vet community so others know they can trust your reviews. Soon, you can also:
- Trade in coins for discounts and deals with Veteran-owned and supported businesses
- Get invited to special events

How do I earn Challenge Coins?

Earning Challenge Coins is easy, with lots of ways to earn and more to come. Some examples:
- Write your first review (Get 20 coins)!
- Write more reviews (Get 10 coins each)
- Update your reviews (Get 5 coins)
- Getting a thumbs up (and minus one for thumbs down) for how helpful your review is (Get 1 coin each thumbs up)
- Filling out your profile (Get 15 coins)

What are the different Challenge Coin ranks?

Make rank:
- New Recruit: less than 45 Coins
- Rifleman: 45-74
- Squad Leader: 75-124
- Platoon Sergeant: 125-224
- Commander: 225-349
- Flag Officer: 350+

I’m an organization representative and I want to correct something in your information about us. Can I do that?

Of course! Contact us and let us know of the error. Even better? Claim your page and always keep your info updated.

How can I use Pathfinder.vet to get in touch with an organization?

In addition to giving you a link to the organization's website, we added a way for the MilVet Community to get in touch faster and easier with the organizations who are paying attention.

If you see "Verified" under the logo on a chapter's details page, someone is waiting to hear from you. Just click the links to request more information, or give a few more details if you are looking to get services. You have to be signed in for this, so they can send you an email! We get you in contact with them right away. And we make sure they follow up. We will make sure the process works, because that's our ultimate goal: connection.

I’d love to get more use out of the organization information. What’s coming?

In later versions, we will be working with organizations to get you more details like hours, points of contact, Veteran-owned, etc. Got something you want to see? Let us know.

What else is on the horizon?

Machine learning and decision engines to make your world simpler. We aren't going to let the robots take over, but we are going to use them to help you make decisions that are compatible with your personality and your needs. Plus, we are building up partnerships so as you get upvotes, you can start earning rewards. Oh, and a whole lot of other really cool stuff.

What's happening in the profile? Seems like there's always new questions.

Some of the questions are general data that will help us better serve the community by targeting resources towards what the big picture actually looks like. Who are they actually serving? Tell them. Also, the information helps our decision engines find better organizations for you, ones that will serve your needs and your demographic in your area.

How does your analysis work? What are you telling people about me?

About you directly? Nothing. But we are looking for trends in the community. Here's what happens: Organizations, big donors, cities, want to see trend analysis on how programs are working and how effective organizations are in the community. We take the names out, scrub the identifying data, and then we show how an organization or program might rate over time in certain aspects like accessibility or atmosphere. We also use advanced natural language processing algorithms (nerds!) adapted from university programs which perform languistic analysis on all the text for the reviews to spot other trends and identify needs and challenges for the community using a resource to help them better focus their mission. It's pretty neat. Check out our blog and our technology info page for more details on what we can do!

What's with all the cats on your social media?

Cats are pretty hilarious. Also, they helped our CEO keep mostly sane while in the Army, so an allegiance was formed. Dogs are well loved, too, and get their time in the spotlight!

I see this ' Verified' on some organization pages. What does ' Verified' mean?

If you see this tag on an organization's page, it means that the page has been claimed by the organization staff so that they can manage the page and that their ownership of the page has been verified by the Pathfinder Team. If an organization has claimed their page, it means they are able to keep their information correct and up-to-date.