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To Trust or Distrust...What it Means and How to Use it.Apr 01 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Once you understand the Web of Trust and the block list you can start to use them to your advantage.
The Web of Trust (WOT) implies many things to each individual user. For some it is a method of keeping track of favorite writers that offer very helpful opinions. For others it is a method of increasing exposure to their own work in the hopes of increasing hits and revenue. Some users barely use their Web of Trust at all. You will find all types of trusters at epinions-those who give their trust without ever reading or rating your reviews; those who trust only until you return their trust; and those who are so picky that they only trust a very select few or will only trust advisors. Some will attempt to cheat and lie their way on to your WOT while some will rubber stamp every review in sight ‘very helpful’ in the hopes of gaining more trusters. What Does Epinions Tell Us About Trust? The epinions terms of service defines the Web of Trust as, “...a network of reviewers whose opinions and ratings you have consistently found to be valuable.” Furthermore, the Members Area of the site takes a look into how one should go about selecting members of their trust list. Here, it is suggested that before you trust other members you should, “Read all or most of their opinions, check out their profile page and evaluate their Webs of Trust.” Clearly, epinions does not intend the Web of Trust to be an aspect of the site that should be taken lightly. Why are you Here? There is no one right way to select who you trust on this site. It really depends on what you are looking to get out of your experience at epinions: Are you in it to write and learn? Do you just want to make a little extra pocket money? Do you hope to help others make purchasing decisions? Or are you looking to just have fun? For most users here, the motivation is a combination of all of these ideas-you need to decide why you are here and what you hope to do while a member of the site. Once you understand what you want from the site, you will be able to begin to determine what types of people you want to trust. Be Honest, Who do You Trust? Think about the people you trust in ‘real life.’ What makes you trust them? In my experience, there are different levels of trust among my friends and family. There are very few that I would trust with my life, but there are many that I trust just because they are honest and caring individuals. I might also trust someone’s knowledge of a particular topic, but not necessarily trust him or her with my emotions. Most people do not blindly trust others in ‘real life,’ so why would you do it here at epinions? Trust is an established thing, meaning it takes repeated exposure to a person for you to be able to develop a trusting bond. It has nothing to do with looks, money, popularity, a cool job or a nice car. It has everything to do with integrity and sincerity. Who Should be on Your Web of Trust? Whether you are new to epinions or not, the key is reading and rating. By doing this you will begin to find writers whom you believe write consistently high quality reviews. The criteria here are up to you. Did the writer help you make a buying decision? Did the review tell you something you did not already know? Even if you are already familiar with the topic, was the review well written and thorough? After awhile, you will begin to notice that you frequently find someone’s reviews very helpful. By this time you have probably checked out this users profile page, maybe left a comment or two on their reviews and perhaps emailed them to discuss a product or epinions. You wouldn’t necessarily trust this person with your life, but you would trust them to help you make informed decisions. So, click that little trust button! Just remember that who you trust and how many people you trust will impact your epinions experience. Other users may look at your WOT in determining whether or not to trust you. Who you trust will also affect which reviews you see first and which reviews you may not see at all. This creates links from truster to truster. For example: If you trust user A and user A trusts you and user B, then B has a better chance of seeing your reviews. The hope is that highly trusted members are those that write the most helpful reviews (all this isn’t always the case) and those reviews will be the first seen my members and non-members alike. My Personal Web of Trust Philosophy It does not matter to me if you have 10 reviews or 150, nor does it matter if you are an advisor or a newbie. Chances are I will read many of your reviews before trusting you because I want to get a sense of who you are and how well you write. For me, one or two reviews are not enough to do that. Once you have crossed my radar, so to speak, I will watch you and try and learn more. I will frequently refer back to your profile page to look for new reviews and rate some of your older ones. I will look for your ratings and comments on other writer’s epinions to see if you are fair and courteous. I may email you or chat with you on a message board. I will see if we have any similar tastes although sometimes opposites do attract. Ultimately, I will think about whether or not to add you-sometimes for days and sometimes for weeks-and then I either will or I won’t. My trust is not extremely easy to gain because if I can’t respect you, I won’t trust you. See You on The Flip Side! There is also the option on epinions to block users. This effectively says that you distrust any user that you add to your block list. For clarity sake, epinions describes the block list as, “a list of authors whose opinions you do not find valuable. If you encounter a member whose opinions are consistently offensive, inaccurate, or otherwise low quality, you can add that member to your Block List.” By utilizing your block list in conjunction with the content filter settings, you can determine whether or not you will ever see another review by a member you block. If enough people block the same member then non-members will not be able to see their reviews at all What Makes You Distrust Someone? The rules that apply in ‘real life’ apply on epinions too. If a member lies or misrepresents the facts by plagiarizing or making up a review it is not helpful to anyone. Do foul language and/or sensitive topics offend you? Then maybe those members should be on your block list. Do you trust people who abuse epinions and the terms of service? Then if you come across a user that does these things, perhaps your block list is the best solution to help filter out the rubbish. A poorly written review may not make you distrust someone. However, according to the epinions description of the block list, if you find a user’s reviews to not be valuable then you should consider blocking that person. Should You Use Your Block List? There are plenty of epinions members who either do not use their block list at all, or they use it as a petty revenge against those members who do not rate their reviews as very helpful. If you are prepared to use your block list in the manner that epinions outlines, then by all means go ahead and block those who you find consistently unhelpful or abusive. Or do you usually like to surround yourself with people you distrust?! In the end, using your block list wisely can help improve the epinions experience for other users as well as yourself. My Personal Block List Philosophy Poor quality reviews are rarely enough to make my block list unless they are constantly atrocious. The same goes for off topic reviews. These might get a rating of not helpful but they are not enough to warrant blocking a member in my opinion. Things that will find a user on my block list are revenge rating, abuse of the system (plagiarism, duplicate reviews, referral marketing, etc.), name-calling, inappropriate comments and harassment. Trust and Distrust: Are They Set in Stone? The answer here is a simple and straightforward no. I have taken members off both my WOT and my block list because my feelings have changed or the user in question has changed. Nothing is forever! Both lists are something that you should actively utilize, review and update as necessary. Please keep in mind that the above ideas draw upon the epinions frequently asked questions area as well as my own feelings on both subjects. This does not in any way mean there is only one right way to use the WOT and block list. I hope some of these thoughts will be helpful for those who are new to epinions or those who do not have a clear and complete understand of these elements of the site.  |
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