Thursday, May 21, 2009

Henry McMaster: What a Jerk

Henry McMaster is the Attorney-General of South Carolina. Two weeks ago Mr McMaster gave craigslist an ultimatum: “remove the portions of the Internet site dedicated to South Carolina and its municipal regions which contain categories for and functions allowing for the solicitation of prostitution and the dissemination and posting of graphic pornographic material” within ten (10) days.” “If those South Carolina portions of the site are not removed,” McMaster said, “the management of craigslist may be subject to criminal investigation and prosecution.”
In addition to being unwarranted by the facts, legal experts agree that the charges threatened represent an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, and are clearly barred by federal law (sec 230 CDA).

Henry McMaster wants to Governor and he's not about to let a pesky little issue like freedom of speech stand in his way. Tell Henry McMaster what you think of him on his new PersonRatings profile.

Monday, May 4, 2009

PersonRatings in Der Spiegel

PersonRatings was recently featured in Der Spiegel, Germany's biggest magazine.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Wikipedia Entry

Help build the Wikipedia entry on PersonRatings here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PersonRatings.com

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Techflash Mention

John Cook at Seattle technology blog techflash recently posted this blurb about PersonRatings.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Big Improvements on the Way

PersonRatings.com will be undergoing a big redesign. Why? Because the site is not nearly good enough. The website is currently a one-trick pony: ratings. Users are not being sucked into an entertaining and engaging experience and, as a result, they are leaving and not coming back (and not telling their friends). How can we tell? Traffic spiked following our appearance on Fox News but subsequently dropped off a cliff. So, I'm asking the 12 people who visit the site on a regular basis to give us their ideas for improving it. Unfortunately, the majority of these people are mentally ill. So, if you are one of the 4 or 5 people who aren't....nevermind, we'll take suggestions from anyone. A couple of caveats: We're sticking with the domain PersonRatings.com, as bad as it is. I just can't handle starting from SEO scratch. Just so we're not duplicating effort, here are the changes we're already planning to make short-term:

1. Syndicated dynamic content from a 'People Search' site on each profile so each profile is a one stop shop for people info.

2. Making the ratings section smaller, moving it directly under the profile pic and making it a widget that can be easily put on anyone's site or blog. The dropdown voting will be eliminated and qualities will appear dynamically in order of highest to lowest rating received.

3. On the right side, adding a picture rating widget, where comments can be added. Again, easy to copy onto your site.

4. Adding a 'Compare People' feature that introduces an element of competition.

5. Adding profile browsing/sorting by quality and location. Forinstance, search for smartest person in San Antonio.

6. Adding ratings alert that emails you when you've been rated.

7. Adding 'Tell a Friend' feature during profile creation process.

8. Adding a pic gallery during profile creation process to make adding a pic easier.

9. Moving profile comments higher so they are visible without scrolling down.

10. College/Co. pages enabling you to sort profiles by institution & year.

11. Scale then crop on all pics.

12. Adding a 'Top Stories' page, which will feature interesting recent postings in the form of a blog, with commentary and possibly investigation. I'd love ideas for a great name.

13. Adding 'Leave {Profile Name} a private message' feature. Also, 'Claim Your Profile' feature that allows you to retrieve your messages.

14. 'Recommend this Person' feature, where users can register or sign in with FB Connect & recommend the person ala linkedin.

15. {Profile Name} Quiz widget, where you can answer questions about the person.* FB app, iphone app, mobile version

Thursday, April 9, 2009

New Website Lets Anyone Rate You

SEATTLE, April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- PersonRatings.com announced its public launch today, making it the first website where any American can be rated and reviewed by anyone. Unlike a social networking profile, a PersonRatings profile can be created by anyone, about anyone, and is completely open to contributions from anyone.

The site debuts with over 250,000 profiles of ordinary Americans who can be rated on ten qualities, ranging from intelligence to trustworthiness. Each profile also contains a message board, biography section and photo gallery. Over 100,000 new profiles are being added weekly.

"You can already rate doctors, lawyers and real estate agents online," said PersonRatings founder Jeremy Stamper. "Now, you can rate any American adult. Your PersonRatings profile will give you feedback on how the world sees you. It will also provide information about other people that might help you make better life decisions."

PersonRatings.com relies on content filters and user flagging to keep the site free of profanity and vulgarity. In addition, profiles of minors are prohibited.

About PersonRatings.com

PersonRatings.com is the first website that enables anyone to rate and review any American adult online. The site officially launched on April 9th, 2009 with over 250,000 profiles of ordinary Americans, with more being added every week. PersonRatings addresses the huge demand for informative and entertaining content about people. PersonRatings.com is owned and operated by Topic5 LLC, a Washington State limited liability company.

Website: http://www.personratings.com/

Contact:
Jeremy Stamper
info@personratings.com
(206) 261-2795