posted on February 25, 2003 12:59:12 PM new
I have received several emails that a report about me has been posted at word-of-mouth.info. When I go to the site, it appears that the site works like this:
Someone posts an annonymous report. You can't actually see what was posted. You have to email the poster annonymously so no one (except the folks who run the site) know who anyone is and wait for the poster to reply. So you don't know who is saying what and if the person is even someone you actually dealt with. Unlike the ebay rating system (bad as it is), there is no way to know what is being reported by who and to who and no way to respond.
I joined the site using a throwaway email ID. Sure enough, I started getting lots of spam, including several messages a day from them to join and become a "power user." This concept is just so bad, it's laughable.
posted on February 25, 2003 01:42:46 PM new
If I didn't already suspect that it was a strange concept, the "endorsements" at the bottom of the page would definitely set off alarms.
example: My husband was ready to rent our house to a very nice couple. There was something about them that made me uneasy. I did a WOMI search and found nothing but positive reports on them. Now I rest easy at night. - (Name omitted)- Long Beach, CA, USA
Well, this just seems odd. How could checking a website nobody has ever heard of and one that provides zero credibility allow anyone to "rest easy?" That's about as reassuring as checking the arrest reports in Tift County, GA and declaring someone to be an upstanding citizen becuase they're not listed!
And ... "over 10 million listings"? I tried for almost 15 minutes to get this thing to turn up ONE report. Just one. There are no "John Smiths" in Washington DC. There are no "Mary Brown"s in Chicago, Ill. Come on! Of 10 million reports, none are accessible?
Here's the other bizarre thing from its user agreement: WORD-OF-MOUTH.INFO AGREES THAT THIS REGISTRATION INFORMATION HAS A VALUE OF USD 0.01 AND IN RETURN FOR THIS VALUE HEREBY GRANTS THE REGISTRANT OWNERSHIP OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN REPORTS SUBMITTED AT THIS WEBSITE, THE REPORTS THEMSELVES, AS WELL AS THE ACTUAL PAGES ON WHICH REPORTS AUTHORED BY THE REGISTRANT ARE DISPLAYED.
To quote that famous newsman, Jon Stewart: Wahhhhaaa?
[ edited by msincognito on Feb 25, 2003 01:43 PM ]
