When you do business online, your reputation is based entirely upon the evaluation others give you. So how honest are they? I’ve done some business through an online service called Guru that bills themselves as “the world’s largest online marketplace for freelance talent”. Another site like it is elance, an eBay company. I’ve done some fun and profitable projects on Guru for earnest and thoughtful people, and I've worked for some employers who are probably working online because no one anywhere near them would ever work for them – not ever, not on a bet. (You know who you are -- you have 11 outstanding invoices, including mine!)
“Pros” as the consultants and other freelancers are called by Guru, register and categorize themselves in a particular specialty and post their resume as well as service offering packages (such as a press release of 2 pages for $X), if they choose to do so. They bid for projects, and after they win and complete them, employers have the opportunity to post ratings of a Pro’s work and the consultant or freelancer, in turn, is able to rate the employer. So why does everyone come close to the 5.0 (out of 5.0) rating?
People are afraid to say that an employer was late with critical information, insistent that they finish work on a Sunday without a prearranged agreement, or slow to pay. It seems like they’ll be looked upon negatively the way whiners or whistleblowers are in the offline world. Employers seem to be rather generic in their evaluations also, probably so they can have takers for their next bid-to-the-bone project.
It seems that Guru is understanding what is happening in the ratings “inflation” game. They have recently introduced a new category of rating – employer endorsements – where employers can vouch for the capabilities and performance of a Pro. What is this all about? How can we get honesty in evaluations and the end of ratings inflation? Would you, or how would you constructively rate a great (or horrible) employer in order to help online evaluations work fairly (or warn others) ?
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