Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi all,

I am helping to market a young website called www.skeptive.com/

It'd be great if someone with experience could review to see if you think the content is useful and whether the UI is pleasant and easy.

Skeptive.com informs users about the trustworthiness of a site based on their and other similar users' ratings. Skeptive also provides a platform for debating disputed topics or questions.

Trust ratings can be really useful, because you can visit a new site and Skeptive.com will predict how much you trust the website based on your ratings and other users' ratings.

Based on your ratings, Skeptive.com can also predict how you'd answer disputes or questions on the site.  As a registered user, you can contribute to these debates by voting on the topic and sourcing new material.

The most popular debate right now is "How many people have been killed in the recent popular uprising against Muamar Ghadhafi?"

It's a good example of how the site is useful. It is also interesting to see the variety reports on Libya.

The website has the potential to be quite important, but it has little traffic right now.  The power and usefulness increases with the number of active users.

The site concept is a good one.

To me, the site design doesn't generate any excitement. It's just sort of "blah," making me figure out whether I'd like it or not.

Also, to have to log in to participate is too much effort for me until I decide whether there is asome good worth there for me.

Again, I think it could really catch on - everyone loves to give their opinions. Those things just make it less likely for me to participate.

Thanks 365.  I think you're right.

What's a typical way to avoid these barriers to entry for the user?  Allow unregistered users to post?  Maybe we only require email instead of full registration for most functions.

Yes, have an easy name/email entry box, like on a commenting system.

If your users can create topics, then let them set whether they will allow unregistered users to reply or only registered. If they only allow registered, then a note could say:

"XXXUser created this topic for the Skepsis community only. To answer this topic, you'll need to be registered (link) and logged in (link)."

That way, SOME of your topics will be for registered users, some for the general public - maybe even separating them a bit on the home page.

If ultimately your goal is to have registrations, then you'll want the incentive for registration to be obvious, but as you said, NOT a barrier to entry.

*smiles*

Champion!  Thanks for the advice