What is your opinion of the following site?

http://www.word-of-mouth.org/

For those of you who don't feel like clicking on the link: this is a site where anonymous users can post "reports" about people, including their name, gender, city, state, country, and email address. Users must pay about $20 US dollars to find out what information the poster has about the subject, by communicating directly with the poster. Once you are listed on the site, there is no way to find out what the poster is saying about you without paying, and there is no way to have your information removed unless you first pay the fee and then establish that the poster is non-responsive.

Votes	Answer
23	I would not pay to see what information posters had about me
17	I think it's an invasion of privacy
16	I do not think it's a valuable resource
16	I think it should be illegal
6	I am indifferent
5	I think it should be legal
5	Other
3	I think it's a valuable resource
3	I do not think it's an invasion of privacy
1	I would pay to see what information posters had about me

User	Comment
Lahdee	posted 17-Jun-2003 5:40pm I have used that sight but didn't pay to see what people said about me. I don't want to waste my money if the person who posted about me isn't going to respond.
juliw	posted 17-Jun-2003 5:45pm I think it could be an invasion of privacy, depending on what people posted. I would not be willing to pay to see what people posted. I am sure that many of the things posted are not kind, and not even true. I really don't care what anyone posts about me, or what strangers think of me.
LindaH	posted 17-Jun-2003 5:51pm As long as the site owners can keep track of who posts, and it's not completely anonymous (you can be held accountable) if you choose to slander someone, I see no problem with it. Paying to see what people said about you kind of sucks, though. There used to be a free one but it is gone now. Anyone could read what people said about anyone else. That one was better.
LindaH	posted 17-Jun-2003 6:11pm Here's a good one http://www.allmyexes.com/index.php You don't have to pay. It's for any ex. Not just boyfriend/girlfriend. Could be ex friend, ex coworker, ex neighbor etc.
pandora	posted 17-Jun-2003 7:08pm Ugh. It's crap.
romkey	posted 17-Jun-2003 7:21pm it looks like there are no checks and balances... no way to push back, no way to verify information and the front page makes my head hurt.
lily333	posted 17-Jun-2003 7:44pm It should be illegal
Enheduanna	posted 17-Jun-2003 11:17pm I think it's an invasion of privacy that possibly borders on libelous, although I don't know if it should be illegal. I wouldn't pay to see what people said about me, although I might be curious!
Enheduanna	posted 17-Jun-2003 11:19pm And I think it's stupid.
Hyena	posted 18-Jun-2003 2:33am I like it - but there are too many people in the world for it to be practical. Maybe if I lived in New York - there might be a small chance that the person I was curious about might have a report. A more local service that just covered my province would be better.
Dino	posted 18-Jun-2003 5:12am I'm indifferent. Is there anybody who would take it seriously. I mean if I went on there now and posted a message saying that 'you' were a dirty slag who likes to watch German Sheister porn - how would you feel? Would you take me seriously.
Biggles	posted 18-Jun-2003 5:45am I think you misrepresented it somewhat in your description of it.
ROCKMAN	posted 18-Jun-2003 6:56am I think it should be illegal!
dab	posted 18-Jun-2003 8:43am I think its wrong.
Cain	posted 18-Jun-2003 8:58am As there appears to be no way of verifying the reports that people submit, it's obviously going to be open to a lot of crap. Hope that my name never appears in it!
romkey	(reply to Enheduanna) posted 18-Jun-2003 9:26am and it has stupid hair!
bill	posted 18-Jun-2003 9:30am I think it's a sad reminder of how crappy we are to each other.
Maarten	posted 18-Jun-2003 9:43am They should do something about the lay-out of the site. It's terrible...
Enheduanna	(reply to romkey) posted 18-Jun-2003 10:30am And I never liked it anyway!
spidertea	posted 18-Jun-2003 2:37pm Sounds like a good way to ruin someone's life. And a really good way to get slapped with a libel lawsuit.
spidertea	(reply to LindaH) posted 18-Jun-2003 2:38pm That is just lame. People need to grow up and get over it.
LindaH	(reply to spidertea) posted 18-Jun-2003 4:42pm What is wrong with it? As long as they are telling the truth, there is nothing wrong with talking about people who did bad things to you. When you do something wrong, mean, horrible to someone, you deserve to have it spread around.
pterodactyl	(reply to Biggles) posted 18-Jun-2003 5:08pm I was extremely careful to represent it neutrally. You need to give specifics if you don't think it's represented accurately.
Biggles	(reply to pterodactyl) posted 18-Jun-2003 5:48pm What you claim it's there for, and what it claims it's there for are somewhat different.
Zang	posted 18-Jun-2003 6:25pm I just read about this here: http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/wordofmouth.asp I don't think it is a valuable resource or an invasion of privacy nor should it be illegal. I am no where near stupid enough to give them money. If they make any money at all, it will be from the same sort of people who phone psychic friends and buy stuff from the home shopping network.
pterodactyl	(reply to Biggles) posted 18-Jun-2003 8:16pm You're being incredibly vague.
mandy	(reply to Enheduanna) posted 18-Jun-2003 8:57pm and it has a really small dick...
Enheduanna	(reply to mandy) posted 19-Jun-2003 9:25am And it smells bad.
spidertea	(reply to LindaH) posted 19-Jun-2003 10:56pm There are different interpretations of why a break up occured. I can totally see a jealous or angry ex just trying to get back at someone by spreading crap about them on the internet.
LindaH	(reply to spidertea) posted 20-Jun-2003 3:36pm I guess what I see is a way to vent about people who deserve it. I think that makes it worthwhile.
spidertea	(reply to LindaH) posted 20-Jun-2003 4:14pm I think there are more appropriate ways to vent, like to close friends, or in more serious cases, a therapist. An internet site does not give you feed back or support. Maybe the couple broke up because of something the "venter" did. Nothing is ever just one person's fault 100%. There are two sides to every story, etc. I just see the whole idea as unproductive and immature. Sure, it might feel good at the time, but is revenge really going to do any good in the long run?
LindaH	(reply to spidertea) posted 20-Jun-2003 5:15pm Maybe not revenge, but I can empathize with people who want to 'vent' but not necessarily get feedback or burden anyone with their troubles. That's where anonymous sites like these would be handy. And sometimes things are 100% one person's fault.
spidertea	(reply to LindaH) posted 21-Jun-2003 10:49pm I can certainly see where the people are coming from. In the past there have been times when I probably would have used it myself!! But I don't think it would have helped, it would just help the anger and resentment grow. Soemtimes you just have to learn from your mistakes and move on. I guess the only time I think it is 100% one person's fault is in the case of abuse- no one deserves that.

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