A Neighborhood Watch concept...

[Eric Snyder]

In the Ottawa, Canada area, we have a mature online "gifting" population of probably 50,000 spread across a large number of different groups (eg. Freecycle, FullCircles, ReUseIt, Freestore, etc.). The focus is local / community, rather than global / subject.

And, of course, in such a large population and in these kinds of economic times, there will be those who see opportunities to take advantage of people's generosity. We have a handful of frequent offenders who, over the past 5+ years, have done some nasty things; been discovered; banned; re-emerged with a whole new identity; and done it all over again.

This morning, one of our long-in-the-tooth members spotted some suspicious behavior and IM'd me about it. Using Grouply (grouply.com), I was able to quickly do a cross-group analysis, and determined that yes, a person with the same email had posted 27 "stuff wanted" postings across 5 or 6 different groups, giving 4 or 5 different locations.

By their very nature, moderators are focused on ONE group and probably wouldn't notice this suspicious activity. But, looking for cross participation, one quickly comes to the conclusion that something doesn't smell right.

So, I was thinking, we could set up some kind of Community Watch mechanism... similar to the Neighborhood Watch idea. We could provide an email address for suspicious activity reports. An individual could quickly do a cross group analysis and send out an early warning "scamalert" message to all the 40 or 50 mods to put them on a higher level of vigilance.

It could easily be done by a volunteer in a couple of hours a week, I think.

Has anyone done anything like this? Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Eric Snyder
Ottawa.Fullcircles.org
=================

[Dave Govan]

Eric,

Mike Pinkerton from Metaverse Mod Squad made me aware of your post.

I'm working with Linda Criddle an expert in online safety and we recently launched a new service to deal with cross site issues like the one you described above. Please read the enclosed below and let me know if we can arrange a phone conversation with you and any other interested colleagues to discuss further.

Best Regards,

Dave

Here's an overview:

ReputationShare, the world’s first universal reputation service for users of online social environments and e-commerce sites. ReputationShare benefits internet sites by improving online experiences and safety for registered users while reducing moderation costs. Sites are not only able to restrict users who violate their terms of use but are also able to apply 1 to 1 marketing techniques and more effectively engage with their best users.

Here’s how ReputationShare works:
1. Companies join ReputationShare’s Network of Partners.
2. Online behavior (good or bad) is reported to ReputationShare.
3. ReputationShare shares users’ RepScore information between partner sites.
4. Partners can reward, restrict, or block users based on scores and event data.
5. Users can view other users’ RepScores within the social service, or their own data at our Portal.

ReputationShare is designed to leverage the power of collective learning to help online sites know the reputation of their customers. Shared knowledge significantly reduces each company’s cost of vigilance, moderation and administration as they participate in an industry-wide best practice for behavioral moderation.

As privacy advocates we have ensured that ReputationShare protects users’ privacy. It never receives or stores any users’ personally identifiable information. Another way ReputationShare improves online safety for users is by providing them with the reputation information about potential online contacts, enabling them to decide for themselves if they want to interact with people with poor online reputations, or only with those that have a sterling reputation.

Here’s what two Industry VIPs think of ReputationShare:

• “Frankly, ReputationShare has the potential to change the entire Internet. What’s key here is the ability to respond before problems start, but also to immediately recognize and respect visitors that travel with great reputations.” – David Perry, Video Game Industry Veteran, David Perry

• “…Reputation rankings can be very effective in spotting trouble before it hits on your network. And ReputationShare is designed to help you manage your risks, as painlessly as possible.”
- Parry Aftab, Esq, Managing Director, WiredTrust

ReputationShare charges no fees for score data. Partners only pay support fees tiered according to traffic volume starting at just $10.00 per month making it affordable for Internet sites of all sizes.

[Eric Snyder]

Dave:

Sounds really good for companies and organizations with deep pockets.

But, freecycling activities are probably way too far down the food chain to participate in a scheme like this. We're talking about large numbers of community members interacting in groups led by volunteers which are affiliated under very general umbrellas with pretty much zero budgets.

/e

[Michael Pinkerton]

Eric, thanks for responding to Dave - whom I met and discussed this service at the Engage! Expo - and thanks for posting, Dave. Eric, do you think even the $10/mo. is too expensive? Maybe there needs to be a special non-profit rate!

[Amy Pritchard]

$10/mo is definitely worth it if you feel a need for this product.

Susie should jump on this topic. She is ALL about the "fresh start", though if the whole purpose is to spam and scam, then no point in that really.

[Susie]

Yes, I'm all about giving people a fresh start, in normal circumstances. I'm talking about people who come to an online group and say stupid things, start fights, do general trolling behaviors. But this seems to be more about people who take "real life" advantage of other people's generosity. That's a different thing!

I like the idea of sharing information in this kind of situation, as long as there is always an eye toward those who may have been misunderstood or mislabeled.

[Eric Snyder]

Yes, in the situation I originally described, the "baddie" is quite deliberately deceiving and taking advantage of members' generosity. She has reappeared with many different aliases over a 5 year period. Perhaps we should even report the situation to the police and ask for advice?

Rather than a "fresh start", maybe she needs to feel some consequences of bad behavior beyond just banning from our groups.

/e

[Dave Govan]

Sorry in advance for my delayed reply but we've been busy working some new clients. Getting back on the thread....the key is to attach consequences to behavior both positive and negative. And as we know that is how the rest of the world works. ReputationShare is a neighborhood watch service and as far as we know the only service that is providing cross site user reputation data with complete privacy protection.

Eric, to demonstrate our commitment to improving online safety and since you are a non profit we are willing to help your community and provide 100% free use of the service. Please contact me at [e-mail] and let me know if you are interested.

[Michael Pinkerton]

Nice! That's great Dave.

Eric, I hope you take him up on it and report back on its effectiveness.

--Mike

[Eric Snyder]

Dave:

Thank you for your generous offer! We'd be pleased to try implementing ReputationShare on our local FullCircles group. We would be pleased to provide full recognition to your organization for the service. And, we would also be pleased to publicly report on and share our experience.

Send me a note [e-mail] and let's get started. I would say give me a call, but my VOIP phone is experiencing technical difficulties for the past couple of days. [first time in a LONG time that I've had problems with VOIP.

/e

[Dave Govan]

Eric,

Glad to hear. I will send you an email to schedule some time to collect more information and then schedule an implementation.

Best Regards,

Dave

[Dave Govan]

Eric,

Please let me know if the email I sent last week reached you. Also, since you are using human moderators we can create accounts for the Moderators to use a web access tool we offer. If this fits your use case(s) there will be no need for any implementation short of creating new accounts and getting providing a quick overview on how to use ReputationShare.

So no cost, no implementation, and you get your Neighborhood Watch. Please contact me at [e-mail] and we can schedule a call.

Best Regards,

Dave

[Susan Taylor]

Wow! This could be very helpful for community sites. I am certainly interested in seeing how it develops over time. Sure would have been a helpful tool when I was actively moderating.