When you go to a website for the first-time, how do you determine the trustworthiness of that site?

I rely on my patent pending bullshit detector

Ho MOZ, nice to see you around these parts.

I was looking around and found some information issued by The Better Business Bureau. I woul dimagine that they would be applacable to B&M and Webs (though they don’t give Webs any price breaks)

No offence but conveying reliability and trustworthiness is probably more easily acheivable if you are a single web entity like a company.  Can a directory meet the criteria listed below, maybe.

BBB

"- Is Information Truthful and Accurate?   Are the advertising claims on the site truthful,
and can they be substantiated?  Are there "get rich quick" claims that seem too good to be
true? Are there outlandish "miracle cure" or other health claims?  Are price claims believable?
Does the online advertiser misuse hyperlinks to create the false impression of affiliation or
endorsement?
     
- Is It Easy to Contact the Company?  Does the online merchant disclose specific contact
information about the business, including a street address or P.O. Box, telephone number,
fax number,and the name of an individual to contact?
     
- Are There Privacy and Security Statements?  Is there an easy-to-find, easy-to-understand
privacy policy?  Does the policy advise customers of choices regarding the business' collection,
use and, disclosure of personal information?
     
- Are Terms of Sale Clearly Disclosed?   Are the terms and conditions of the sale clearly
stated, including product availability/shipping information, prices and customer costs, return
or refund policies, and warranties and guarantees?  Does the merchant provide an opportunity to
review and approve the transaction, prior to its completion?  Is the consumer provided the option
to receive a confirmation of the transaction after it's been completed?
     
- Does Site Promise Customer Satisfaction?   Does the merchant have a satisfactory record with
the BBB? Does the merchant seek to ensure their customers are satisfied by answering questions
and offering to resolve customer complaints and disputes in a timely and responsive manner?
Does the online merchant offer either an unconditional money-back guarantee or third-party
dispute resolution?"

Hi MOZ.. I didnt know know you were in here,or I forgot... DOH!
Wow Waveshoppe.. Very nicely put and then some..

Did you have all that stored up after visiting my blog or store? bwaa haa ha
No really thats quite a nice check list you have there.

Good Job.. I mean ... Ya what Waveshoppe said!
stay away from my place with that checklist lol

This is a great question MasterMOZ,

I like to send an email to the administrator/owner and ask a question or give some feedback or pay them a compliment.

A prompt and appropriate response creates a positive foundation which determines their level of professionalism, how well their systems are functioning and how they will most likely deal with customer satisfaction in the future.

I even used that tactic when I came here. The response or lack of response tells me exactly how to anticipate probable outcomes.

Thanks for making me think about this...it's a very important aspect to what I am developing right now.

Elizabeth Richardson

P.S. I also use my real name and picture in all my business dealings on the Internet and consider it the main reason that I have been able to establish trust and credibility in an industry that is full of people with alias's.

Mutilated1 wrote:

I rely on my patent pending bullshit detector

Isn't that the same one you sold to me?

- Are There Privacy and Security Statements?  Is there an easy-to-find, easy-to-understand
privacy policy?  Does the policy advise customers of choices regarding the business' collection,
use and, disclosure of personal information?

This is one that to me really holds no water - just words on a screen...

To me contactability, a good FAQ that covers some really detailed aspects and how soon they get back to you on questions.

But then are we talking credibility, trust, confidence etc - they are all different things. Credibility is not something for a ecommerce site, but trust is. Credibility would apply to a blog where the factual accuracy etc come into play.

Those are some good points matte. In a way consumer trust is really something that you have to earn.

Personally, i never deal with online businesses except for hosts... cause i dont have a choice. But the ones i do use are always referrals from people i know, i also like to email em lots with arbitrary problems, like not being able to find the ticket for my domain name If they are quickish to respond and dont nail you to an faq board repeatedly they are probably OK, im one of the people whose credit card details will never touch the net.... paranoia... only cause i know they are watching... hhahahahhaha

MasterMOZ wrote:

When you go to a website for the first-time, how do you determine the trustworthiness of that site?

Intuition

How i found them, what i'm looking for, how the site behaves, etc

http://www.webcredibility.org/guidelines/

He he ... MasterMoz spammed my - MyBlogLog listing - http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/theGypsy/

Ha ha ha ha.... that's a message center.. not a place to put yer Press Releases there MM ..... You didn't even say, "Hi there Gypsy" - just posted yer self-promoting PR.... tsk tsk.... I call that SPAM mate..... I am a volatile guy that ya may not want to get going (ranting) ....

yeeesh

Which get's me thinking THIS thread is nothing more than an attempt to further promote yerself and get a few fresh backlinks going.... I noticed you haven't replied to anyone's comments once U started it.....

Hmmmmmm.....

TheGypsy wrote:

He he ... MasterMoz spammed my - MyBlogLog listing - http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/theGypsy/

Ha ha ha ha.... that's a message center.. not a place to put yer Press Releases there MM ..... You didn't even say, "Hi there Gypsy" - just posted yer self-promoting PR.... tsk tsk.... I call that SPAM mate..... I am a volatile guy that ya may not want to get going (ranting) ....

yeeesh

Which get's me thinking THIS thread is nothing more than an attempt to further promote yerself and get a few fresh backlinks going.... I noticed you haven't replied to anyone's comments once U started it.....

Hmmmmmm.....

LOL i love how you left it up live links and all...think you may be onto something...

Also some comments on this same topic here: Retail Trust

Nic wrote:

TheGypsy wrote:

He he ... MasterMoz spammed my - MyBlogLog listing - http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/theGypsy/

Ha ha ha ha.... that's a message center.. not a place to put yer Press Releases there MM ..... You didn't even say, "Hi there Gypsy" - just posted yer self-promoting PR.... tsk tsk.... I call that SPAM mate..... I am a volatile guy that ya may not want to get going (ranting) ....

yeeesh

Which get's me thinking THIS thread is nothing more than an attempt to further promote yerself and get a few fresh backlinks going.... I noticed you haven't replied to anyone's comments once U started it.....

Hmmmmmm.....

LOL i love how you left it up live links and all...think you may be onto something...

Also some comments on this same topic here: Retail Trust

Oh... it will get deleted.... just leavin it for a few days cause o this post.... maybe I will start spamming his profile for a while.. write a bot to do it non-stop... bwaaaa ha ha ha ha

TheGypsy wrote:

He he ... MasterMoz spammed my - MyBlogLog listing - http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/theGypsy/

Ha ha ha ha.... that's a message center.. not a place to put yer Press Releases there MM ..... You didn't even say, "Hi there Gypsy" - just posted yer self-promoting PR.... tsk tsk.... I call that SPAM mate..... I am a volatile guy that ya may not want to get going (ranting) ....

yeeesh

Which get's me thinking THIS thread is nothing more than an attempt to further promote yerself and get a few fresh backlinks going.... I noticed you haven't replied to anyone's comments once U started it.....

Hmmmmmm.....

Ok, lets clarify a few points. Yes I posted that on your mybloglog. I only sent it to members of the MasterMOZ community on mybloglog, so you are a member. Yes I do apologize for not specifying that it was to members. I'm not sure you can call that spamming as I get messages like that all the time on mybloglog from communities I belong to.

I first learned of this forum as a sr member pointed me to a link that mentioned MasterMOZ. If you look at that thread:
http://forums.site-reference.com/topic/ … Over-DMOZ/
You will notice that I joined sr, and I joined right in and answered every question frankly.

If you are referring to this post, I just posted it yesterday and on returning this morning I would have responded to some of the excellent comments by elizabethrichardson, waveshoppe, etc.

And yes I do use forums to promote our site. I also use them to gather and give useful information, and get feedback and check out new ideas, etc...

Please also check with Nic I asked him about posting etiquette here before posting, and his response was to post an interesting question to get a conversation going, which was what I thought I was doing. It is a question which I am very interested in the responses, as it is an area I have been working in for quite a while.

After having to say all that, I think I will be leaving this forum. Thanks.

MasterMOZ wrote:

Ok, lets clarify a few points. Yes I posted that on your mybloglog. I only sent it to members of the MasterMOZ community on mybloglog, so you are a member. Yes I do apologize for not specifying that it was to members. I'm not sure you can call that spamming as I get messages like that all the time on mybloglog from communities I belong to.

Well I could care less - I joined yer community to be nice since U were here (at SR) and took the time to drop by my Blog .... I didn't do it to get your PR crap. I don't recall opting in for such unwanted posts on my profile so that IS SPAM in my bok... dunno about you

I first learned of this forum as a sr member pointed me to a link that mentioned MasterMOZ. If you look at that thread:
http://forums.site-reference.com/topic/ … Over-DMOZ/
You will notice that I joined sr, and I joined right in and answered every question frankly.

Congrats.... I don't see how that fishing matters.

If you are referring to this post, I just posted it yesterday and on returning this morning I would have responded to some of the excellent comments by elizabethrichardson, waveshoppe, etc.

Fair enough, I made a supposition, not a statement. Don't be so sensitive. Simply clear it up as you have. Many folks do what I mentioned, I simply put that for folk as they may waste their time with posts... it happens a lot.

Please also check with Nic I asked him about posting etiquette here before posting, and his response was to post an interesting question to get a conversation going, which was what I thought I was doing. It is a question which I am very interested in the responses, as it is an area I have been working in for quite a while.

Great... feel free to further participate in the discussion......

After having to say all that, I think I will be leaving this forum. Thanks.

Once again yer being over sensitive.... I shall remove you from my communities so I don't get more SPAM. I simply was stating a fact about your practices and warning valued members that there was a potential that U were doing more than simply having a discussion by looking at the length of the post ( one liner) and over-all participation in THIS community.

Don't get offended as there are MANY people that lurk forums making one line posts every month or so for some fresh link love. If you can't understand that, my apologies... but it happens and members waste time trying to help some one when they are actualy being had.

... if you hadn't spammed my ass I wouldn't have said squat.... as it is be hapy I don't rant on yer ass or report U to MBL as that isn't really what the message boards there are for.....

I have only been around the forum here for approx six weeks, so I am new to all this.

I have been part of and witnessed some major changes at Site Reference in that time....and welcome ones too!

I believe it is time for the over generalization of the word 'spam' to be stopped...as in it's own way, you are making an accusation based on assumption rather than proof. ...

I have been making repeated requests via PM to various moderators and administrators for this policy to be reconsidered and really look forward to see yet another change for the benefit of the community on the whole.

Elizabeth Richardson

P.S. I appreciate that MasterMOZ has had the courage to front us all as it has now created a direct example of the misunderstandings that can occur, and look forward for this community to come to a speedy resolution (and also make an apology)

elizabethrichardson wrote:

I have only been around the forum here for approx six weeks, so I am new to all this.

I have been part of and witnessed some major changes at Site Reference in that time....and welcome ones too!

I believe it is time for the over generalization of the word 'spam' to be stopped...as in it's own way, you are making an accusation based on assumption rather than proof. ...

I have been making repeated requests via PM to various moderators and administrators for this policy to be reconsidered and really look forward to see yet another change for the benefit of the community on the whole.

Elizabeth Richardson

P.S. I appreciate that MasterMOZ has had the courage to front us all as it has now created a direct example of the misunderstandings that can occur, and look forward for this community to come to a speedy resolution (and also make an apology)

WTF Liz.... it isn't simply this forum... there is email SPam, web spam bla bla bla... unsolicited promotions on MBL are simply that to many folks... SPAM.....  this is a FORUM once again my dear. I can use whatever terminology I please.

No body on MBL like spending time deleting crap that get's posted in their 'messages' .... I have many folks from here at SR and oter forums that I have joined their communities... NOT ONE of them has ever posted their garbage promotional crap on my profile

If MM wasn't advertising via my profile, he could have sent the message marked PRIVATE .. thus no other visitors to my page would see it.  It wasn't ... WHY? To use my profile to further peddle their wares...

I call that SPAM.... U can call it whatever U like my dear

I made a suposition about the purpose of MMs thread... it was the unwanted post on my MBL profile that I called SPAM.....

As I told Nic, I only made that statement AFTER I realized he had spammed me on MBL.... so there was evidence.... He even asked Nic if he could blantantly promote his site ans was told NO .. THEN all of a sudden there is a post of interest.... so WHATEVER deary.... stick ot moderating your own forum would U.... man..... what a crock