Over the past few days this news story has caught our attention. There is a new website out there called Unvarnished. So why is this website in the spotlight? Well for those of you who don’t know, this site allows anyone to go to their site and dish about their coworkers' and bosses' performances.
Should we be worried?
From what we understand the site was designed so that users can give kudos and constructive criticism to colleagues, however the site certainly sounds like it could be a vehicle for abuse.
1. There’s no way to determine if what’s posted is indeed from a coworker.
2. There’s no way to determine if what’s posted is even true.
It sounds like it is simply a medium to post damaging information about the targeted person.
The biggest concerns.
All information is posted anonymously with no way to remove a negative review. You heard right, once something’s posted, it’s up there indefinitely.
The site’s founders claim that they hope that the information posted to the site will eventually replace candidates’ personal reference sheets. If this is true, we just hope that employers know to take these online reviews with a grain of salt, how credible of a source can this really be?
While they say that administrators will monitor posts to ensure that nothing too abusive is published, that doesn’t mean the admins will prevent negative reviews from going up. Unvarnished, does however give those who are targeted the chance to post rebuttals and they can also improve their reputations by inviting their own contacts to write positive reviews…but then doesn’t it come down to a simple game of “He Said, She Said”?
So how can you defend yourself?
There are resources out there to help business professionals just like you protect yourself from potential online attacks. Services like Reputation Defender ensure that your online presence is not smeared. For now —we’ll play to waiting game to see if this site takes off like planned…
Should we be worried?
From what we understand the site was designed so that users can give kudos and constructive criticism to colleagues, however the site certainly sounds like it could be a vehicle for abuse.
1. There’s no way to determine if what’s posted is indeed from a coworker.
2. There’s no way to determine if what’s posted is even true.
It sounds like it is simply a medium to post damaging information about the targeted person.
The biggest concerns.
All information is posted anonymously with no way to remove a negative review. You heard right, once something’s posted, it’s up there indefinitely.
The site’s founders claim that they hope that the information posted to the site will eventually replace candidates’ personal reference sheets. If this is true, we just hope that employers know to take these online reviews with a grain of salt, how credible of a source can this really be?
While they say that administrators will monitor posts to ensure that nothing too abusive is published, that doesn’t mean the admins will prevent negative reviews from going up. Unvarnished, does however give those who are targeted the chance to post rebuttals and they can also improve their reputations by inviting their own contacts to write positive reviews…but then doesn’t it come down to a simple game of “He Said, She Said”?
So how can you defend yourself?
There are resources out there to help business professionals just like you protect yourself from potential online attacks. Services like Reputation Defender ensure that your online presence is not smeared. For now —we’ll play to waiting game to see if this site takes off like planned…
