Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the point of all this?
In a nutshell: If reliable information about the social and environmental
performances of corporations is easily available, people will start making consumption decisions based
on this information. And corporations will respond to this consumer behavior by improving their social
and environmental performance. See About Us for more.
How will this change marketplace behavior? Many people don’t care that much about this stuff.
Maybe, but most people care at least a little bit about some aspect of the
world that’s impacted by corporations. And our database has room for many different social and
environmental concerns. More importantly, we don’t need to change everyone’s behavior all at once.
Competition among manufacturers is usually so robust (and so much money is at stake) that corporations
will respond to even slight changes in consumption behavior. Businesses think about marginal
differences, and so should we.
How do I know this information is reliable? Isn’t the open source model subject to gaming, vandalism, and manipulation?
This is a risk to every open source website, and we take these issues
seriously. However, with your help, we think we can address this concern better than anyone else out
there. Our peer review system lets you, the user, affect the weight placed on different reviews of
corporate performance. If you read a review that is shoddy, ill-supported, or otherwise smells funny,
you can give it a low score, and its weight will be downgraded. Likewise, if you give high scores to
good, well-supported reviews, then the most thoughtful voices will have the greatest power in
determining the final scores.
How can I customize corporation scores to reflect my interests and values?
See My Priorities. Once you’re a member, you can tell us how important each
issue is to you and the company scores you view will be weighted accordingly.
Why can’t I find corporation X in your database?
At this stage in our operations, we want to focus on depth before breadth;
we want our community to develop a thorough evaluation of the corporations currently in the database
before we expand to other industries. In the future, we’ll allow you to add companies to the database
yourself so that we tap the true potential of our open-source model.
Why aren’t there any reviews under category A in corporation X’s profile?
Sorry about that. We’re depending on each other to build up a robust and
accurate volume of reviews. Again, we’re starting as a small operation; you can help us grow by
finding holes like this and filling them.
Why does corporation X have such a high (or low) rating in category A, when they really deserve a low (or high) rating?
If there’s only one or two reviews in category A, then this rating might
not be truly representative of the opinions of our community, and as new reviews are added the rating
should become closer to its true value. If you think someone is trying to game the system, please
send us an e-mail and let us know. Finally, it’s possible that the aggregated
opinions of our community culminate in some interesting and counterintuitive results. Are the reviews
persuasive and well-supported?
I wrote a thoughtful and well-researched review. Is this given the same weight as a review that’s pointless and unconvincing?
Nope. The higher your Average Peer Rating, the more weight your review has
in determining the final score for the corporation.
How can I increase my Average Peer Rating?
Your Average Peer Rating increases when other people rate your reviews
positively. Look at the comments that your peers included in their ratings of your reviews; these
comments may have clues for how you can improve your work.
How can I donate to your worthy cause?
We love you. Visit our donation page to contribute. Thanks!
