Building Web Reputation Systems

Chapter 6. Objects, Inputs, Scope, and Mechanism

Having answered the three key questions posed in Chapter 5 (see Asking the Right Questions), you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to accomplish with your system. In this chapter, we start showing you how to accomplish those goals. We’ll start identifying the components of your reputation system and we systematically determine these details:

• Which objects (people or things) will play a part in the reputation system? Some objects will themselves be reputable entities and will accrue and lose reputation over time. Other objects may not directly benefit from having a reputation but may play a part in the system nevertheless.

• What inputs will feed into your system? Inputs frequently will take the form of actions that your users may take, but other inputs are possible, and we’ll discuss them in some detail.

• In the case of user-expressed opinions and actions, what are the appropriate mechanisms to offer your users? What would be the difference between offering 5-star ratings, thumbs-up voting, or social bookmarking?

In addition, we share a number of practitioner’s tips, as always. This time around, we consider the effects of exclusivity on your reputation system (how stingy, or how generous, should you be when doling out reputations?). We also provide some guidance for determining the appropriate scope of your reputations in relation to context.

The Objects in Your System

To accomplish your reputation-related goals, you’ll have ...