Is there ANY accountability for claims made here?

me<----clueless as usual... did I miss something??

Yeah, what are you referring to specifically?

James, you can flag somebody--the "moderators" take that pretty seriously and review each instance of flagging. (Look for the little red-flag icon on someone's profile.)

So, are you talking about folks who might for instance be using the Biznik portal to tout some amazing results you will get if you use their services/product--but such results cannot be substantiated?

Depending on the claim, yes and no. I don't think Biznik has a good method of determining business accountability, nor should they from my viewpoint. In fact I think a section of the ToS actually says that members should be positive and supportive.

Except for exact physical products, I don't think the community model here is very well slanted towards whether or not a service has been performed. If a physical product hasn't been delivered- it is an easy legal issue. Service issues are harder to define and regulate.

If Bizniks stay positive and supportive, then they will receive good recommendations and referrals from companies that they have used or had experience with.

Pretty simple: If any business experience isn't good, don't recommend it to the community.

On the other hand- if you have a good experience speak up.

I think that the only real time that a community should step in from a moderation level is when there is definitive evidence that is truly unethical or illegal. Otherwise the community runs into the problem of Biznik trying to arbitrate and decide on personality conflicts, he said - she said, and a myriad of other issues that make the common person bang their head against the wall.

I'ld tell Dan and Laura. See what they have to say about it. I know they don't want fonnies on the site. Art T.

Nice break-down, Barry. That pretty much seems how to proceed.

Hi guys, I'll jump in quickly and second what Barry said - Biznik is not in a position to mediate disputes or verify claims, and we don't want to get involved in that. Biznik simply provides a platform for people to network and learn how to grow your business faster and become more profitable.

There have been a very few cases where we have stepped in and kicked out members who were antagonizing other members, and in one case we booted out a member who we received multiple fraud complaints about. But we try to avoid that as much as possible, and definitely don't get involved in he-said disputes.

If you know of someone who is doing something that violates Biznik's terms of service, please DO flag the member to alert us.

Yes, and I guess I was thinking of things along the lines of Barry's last paragraph, those things which are blatantly wrong (illegal, against ToS). So when I say the moderators take flagging a member seriously, I didn't mean that they get sent-to-their-room-without-supper straight away if they get flagged, but more that the moderators take the quality of the community quite seriously.