Jump to content

Are you a WOT user?


Jay Rose

Recommended Posts

WOT (Web of Trust, a website rating service) has given my book's new site a bad rating, because a previous owner of the domain was a spammer*.

 

Please help me. 

 

If you belong to WOT, please take a moment to verify that GreatSound.info is clean... then give WOT a new rating.

 

If you don't belong, you can log in to mywot.com with your Facebook or Google ID. No additional user info is taken, though they do verify your email address. It takes about 30 seconds to register. Then you can check any site's reputation for free... and help clean up mine.

 

---

 

*greatsound.info was marked as spam / possible malware in 2011 and early 2012. The crooks then abandoned the name, but WOT kept the warning.

 

I registered it in late 2013, and went live in early 2014. It doesn't have any spam or malware... just info about my book, downloadable samples, and mp3 and mov tutorial files for readers.

 

The moral? Before you register a site, be aware you're also inheriting any bad reputation anybody else ever earned for the domain name.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jay, it could take you a long time to fix WOT's incorrect data that way but you might try to report the problem here https://www.mywot.com/en/contact and select "Problem with my site's reputation".  Otherwise, they are actively and without reason interfering with your right to conduct business.  And that ain't cool... or legal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Laurence, I tried that  WOT link first. It's singularly unhelpful. Once you follow it down, it says they won't change ratings even with a change of ownership. And it doesn't provide contact info; just a FAQ.  It suggests you ask users on the service to submit new ratings, which is what I did on their forum and here. 

 

If you keep looking, you can find their postal address. In Finland. Many of their forum members have .ru TLDs. 

 

Yes, they are actively interfering with my business, and probably a lot of other peoples' as well. OTOH, I was alerted to this problem by a reader who thinks WOT is worth using.

 

Their TOS, of course, absolves them of any responsibility for anything. While I can claim that I never agreed to their TOS, it would be a virtually impossible civil court fight to get them to change the rating or compensate me. And being non-US, there's no criminal complaint I could make.

 

So I'll send them a polite snail mail... and not expect an answer. I suspect the best we can do is my original request:

 

If you want to do me a solid, please go to the myWot.com site. Log in with your Facebook or Google ID. And give GreatSound.info a good rating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Their web site talks about trust. I do not trust a "service" that is run with the level of irresponsible disregard that Jay has encountered.

WOT will NOT receive a "Web Approved" sticker from me, instead they get my WOT-NOT!

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that my previous post hit the nail on the head.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jack, Jacob... Thanks! I really appreciate it.

 

John... you might be right. Or it might be the service was originally well-intentioned, but its algorithm never allowed for sites to change hands, in which case it's just lousy service rather than dishonesty. I won't use or rely on WOT myself, but since some of my book readers do, I have to 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, Brandon and Rick.

 

The GreatSound.info site now has ten recent positive reviews, vs two very old ones reporting the previous owners.

 

And the result in my rating? As of a few minutes ago, WOT asserts:

The site has a poor reputation based on user ratings, and it is not suitable for children.

 

I hope potential readers will look beyond the WOT red traffic light, and actually look at the reviews. There's some useful information at GreatSound.info (along with the expected book promo; Focal Press paid for the registration), as well as links to the free tutorials on my main site.

 

Meanwhile: does anybody know if WOT even has an algorithm?  Or do they manually update the ratings 'when they get around to it'?

 

Anybody have any ideas? Or just that I shouldn't try to please everybody... the book is out there, and you can get it if you think it'll be useful to learn about film sound.

 

There is no meaningful contact info on the WOT site, other than a snail address in Finland...

 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...