4 ms·

I think this used to be the case. But think about what the internet has done for "reputation" tracking. I think deregulation would open the "potential" for sc

I think this used to be the case. But think about what the internet has done for "reputation" tracking. I think deregulation would open the "potential" for scammers, but at the same time would open a market for websites like a "Yelp for investors".

danieltillett 11y ago
Given how much reputation "massaging" occurs on Yelp I am not sure this is a good model :) The solution to preventing scamming is to make it harder for scammers to raise money than genuine businesses. The major difficulty is it is very difficult for unsophisticated investors (actually all investors) to make accurate judgments into the character of founders of start-ups. Even if we had a good reputational system for start-up founders (we don't), most founders (especially the most innovative ones) are not going to have a lot of history to support any such reputation system. On the topic of reputation, Linkin^ has a good platform to monetrise this demand. They could charge users (and pay other users) for reputation endorsement (not just skill endorsement). They could have users provide an enormous amount of biographical detail and then have others verify (or not verify) this data. Make enough links and it will be very hard for a scammer to succeed over the honest. ^ Actually this could be a great idea for a start-up. Have people upload massive amounts of biographical data and then pay other people to endorse each data point - probably someone is doing it already and will soon tell me all about it :)
- datashovel 11y ago
  I agree reputation isn't an easy problem to solve. I think taken to its logical limit something like what you've described above is likely close to if not the correct solution. Using the tried and true methods that already exist in the public key infrastructure of the web, I think the problem of tracking reputation online (in a reliable way) is something that will be solved in our lifetimes.
  - danieltillett 11y ago
    The real interesting question here is how many data points do you need to confirm to establish that someone is trustworthy?
bsder 11y ago
Yelp only "works" because it isn't worth expending money on lawyers against obviously defamatory reviews. Note what happens every time somebody tries to start "Yelp for doctors". Now add an extra couple zeros at stake for "Yelp for investment" and watch how many lawyers start flying when a negative review comes in.
- datashovel 11y ago
  I think the critical thing to make reputation tracking work online is if not only are the "reviewed" held accountable, but the "reviewers" are also held accountable. The only way that I know this could happen is if real / trackable identities are attached to the review.
makomk 11y ago
We've already seen how well this works, actually. The Bitcoin community had a neat reputation tracking system. Remember pirateat40, the guy who ran a massive, really unsubtle ponzi scheme? He was one of the top-rated people on there. He actually used this to help encourage people to invest in his scheme.
- datashovel 11y ago
  I think one of the key pieces missing from most if not all online reputation tracking systems is there's no accountability. In other words, even if someone's online profile develops a reputation it's still an "anonymous" reputation. Unless the person makes a conscious attempt to make sure people can easily locate the person's real identity behind the online identity. I think accountability in an online reputation tracking system would come from the network's ability to easily match the online reputation of the individual to the real identity of that individual. If a person's real identity is at risk I think they're generally going to be far more cautious / conservative about what they put out there. Also makes it less likely that a person with a poor reputation online will be able to redeem that poor reputation just by creating a new profile. Having a good reputation in the real world takes hard work. Not so much online.

danieltillett 11y ago

Given how much reputation "massaging" occurs on Yelp I am not sure this is a good model :) The solution to preventing scamming is to make it harder for scammers to raise money than genuine businesses. The major difficulty is it is very difficult for unsophisticated investors (actually all investors) to make accurate judgments into the character of founders of start-ups. Even if we had a good reputational system for start-up founders (we don't), most founders (especially the most innovative ones) are not going to have a lot of history to support any such reputation system. On the topic of reputation, Linkin^ has a good platform to monetrise this demand. They could charge users (and pay other users) for reputation endorsement (not just skill endorsement). They could have users provide an enormous amount of biographical detail and then have others verify (or not verify) this data. Make enough links and it will be very hard for a scammer to succeed over the honest. ^ Actually this could be a great idea for a start-up. Have people upload massive amounts of biographical data and then pay other people to endorse each data point - probably someone is doing it already and will soon tell me all about it :)

datashovel 11y ago
I agree reputation isn't an easy problem to solve. I think taken to its logical limit something like what you've described above is likely close to if not the correct solution. Using the tried and true methods that already exist in the public key infrastructure of the web, I think the problem of tracking reputation online (in a reliable way) is something that will be solved in our lifetimes.
- danieltillett 11y ago
  The real interesting question here is how many data points do you need to confirm to establish that someone is trustworthy?

bsder 11y ago

Yelp only "works" because it isn't worth expending money on lawyers against obviously defamatory reviews. Note what happens every time somebody tries to start "Yelp for doctors". Now add an extra couple zeros at stake for "Yelp for investment" and watch how many lawyers start flying when a negative review comes in.

datashovel 11y ago
I think the critical thing to make reputation tracking work online is if not only are the "reviewed" held accountable, but the "reviewers" are also held accountable. The only way that I know this could happen is if real / trackable identities are attached to the review.

makomk 11y ago

We've already seen how well this works, actually. The Bitcoin community had a neat reputation tracking system. Remember pirateat40, the guy who ran a massive, really unsubtle ponzi scheme? He was one of the top-rated people on there. He actually used this to help encourage people to invest in his scheme.

datashovel 11y ago
I think one of the key pieces missing from most if not all online reputation tracking systems is there's no accountability. In other words, even if someone's online profile develops a reputation it's still an "anonymous" reputation. Unless the person makes a conscious attempt to make sure people can easily locate the person's real identity behind the online identity. I think accountability in an online reputation tracking system would come from the network's ability to easily match the online reputation of the individual to the real identity of that individual. If a person's real identity is at risk I think they're generally going to be far more cautious / conservative about what they put out there. Also makes it less likely that a person with a poor reputation online will be able to redeem that poor reputation just by creating a new profile. Having a good reputation in the real world takes hard work. Not so much online.