Website Reputation
Website reputation refers to the perceived credibility and trustworthiness of a website, which is crucial for users seeking reliable information. A credible website typically has a clear purpose, knowledgeable content, and is authored by experts in the field, with appropriate citations to support its claims. Users are encouraged to investigate the website's operator, check for author qualifications, and assess the timeliness and reliability of the information presented. Given that anyone can create a website, discerning the intent behind the content is essential, especially as some sites may aim to mislead or satirize. Additionally, domain names can offer clues about a website’s credibility, with .gov and .edu generally indicating reliable sources. However, users should still critically evaluate all sites, including those with familiar domains, to avoid misinformation. Rating systems and review platforms play a significant role in influencing consumer decisions, though concerns about fake reviews persist. Overall, as internet usage grows, enhancing the ability to determine credible sources remains a vital challenge.
Website Reputation
A website is considered credible if it is knowledgeable and trustworthy. This means a website's purpose must be clear, and its information must be reliable. Some sites are designed to appear credible either to fool users or because they are satirical in nature. People can use a number of criteria to evaluate the reputation of a website.
Overview
Because anyone can create a website, it is important for users to know the operator or owner of a site. Users should look for information about the operator or owner and determine the intent or purpose for the site. They should also be concerned with the timeliness of information posted, especially from online magazines, books, and journals.
Information on a website is most credible when it has an author's name attached to it. However, users still should ask questions. Is the writer an expert in the field? Is the author impartial? Does the writer presents all sides of an issue? For example, a newspaper reporter may not be an expert in economics, but the individual should present several views in a discussion of the topic to offer the various sides. If authors claim expertise in a particular field, they should be credited with authority by others. Has the writer published scholarly articles or books about this topic or contributed to textbooks or other reputable sources? Is the author a member of an organization in the field or a professor in the subject? Has the writer been quoted by news organizations or other credible sources? Are the author's facts supported by other sources? If authors are selling something, is this the reason they are writing about a particular topic?
A website also may publish information without an author's name attached to it. This is common on government, museum, and university websites, among others. In such cases, the user must consider the ownership of the website. Is this information easily found by clicking an "About" section or checking the copyright? Does the site include contact information? If the organization or business that owns the site is unfamiliar, the user should conduct further research.
A reputable site will credit the sources used. A user should evaluate these sources, however. For example, a passage credited to a source such as Wikipedia should not be considered credible. Wikipedia and other wiki sites are collaborative ventures. This means anyone can contribute to or change information on these websites without oversight. Because of this, the information on these sites should not be relied upon to be correct or true.
Users should pay attention to the domain names of websites. Anyone can buy and use .com, .org, and .net domains, although this does not mean these types of sites are not reliable. News organizations, for example, typically use .com and are respected for their journalistic integrity. However, users must still evaluate websites carefully. Sites using the .org domain may represent organizations such as nonprofits, which may have agendas of their own, so users should balance ideas found there with those from other sources. Government websites use .gov, while colleges and universities use .edu domains, and these sites are mostly credible. Students and professors may have their own pages on .edu sites, so users should scrutinize information on these sites to ensure it is credible.
Rating Systems and Controversies
Consumers can use websites to help them make choices, whether they are evaluating products such as blenders or books or looking for services such as a restaurant. Rating service websites, especially for hotels and restaurants, are very popular.
Some of these sites allow anyone to post reviews of hotels, restaurants, or other experiences or transactions, while others require verification that is supposed to prove reviewers have legitimate experience with the subject being reviewed. For example, Hotels.com allows anyone to browse reviews, but people may only review a hotel if they booked it through the website and completed their stay. After a person's stay, Hotels.com sends a link that allows the consumer to review the establishment. This helps prevent fraudulent reviews.
Some organizations such as TripAdvisor have discovered fake reviews on their websites. TripAdvisor flags suspect reviews to alert consumers to possible deception. Users must decide if these flagged reviews are credible. On most third-party websites or platforms that allow reviews, such as Yelp and Google, businesses and organizations can also flag or report inappropriate or incorrect reviews but cannot remove reviews.
Fake or sponsored reviews have been found on many websites. Author Stephen Leather admitted in 2012 that he had created several Amazon accounts and used them to post positive reviews of his own books. Others have hired people to post positive reviews of their products and services or have offered discounted or free products in exchange for reviews. Sites will often denote such reviews with a disclaimer.
Media and Satire
At times, mainstream media have failed to evaluate the credibility of websites from which they have used information. The Onion, for example, is a widely known satirical website that looks legitimate. Yet many times, stories from the Onion have been reported by news agencies as truth. In 2012 both a Chinese newspaper and a South Korean newspaper published a farcical story announcing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had been named the sexiest man alive. Stories from the Onion are repeatedly circulated online, potentially affecting the credibility of the sites that post them.
Outlook
Because many people, especially students, gather much of their information online and will continue to do so, this may present more problems with determining what sites are credible. For sites that pose security risks, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates verify a website's identity and encrypt data sent to the server to protect user information and keeps online transactions secure. Typically, a notification or message will pop up explaining that a website is unsafe. However, such technologies do not exist for sites that are fraudulent or unreliable. However, scholars speculate that the addition of specialized search engines could help people more easily recognize reliable sites. It is unclear, though, who would spearhead these changes or what exactly they may be.
Bibliography
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