What is SiteRapture?
SiteRapture (www.siterapture.com) is the first comprehensive social researching directory that helps consumers discover and evaluate online services by providing user and editor generated research including service listings, reviews / ratings, video tutorials, recommendations, and other research content.  SiteRapture significantly reduces the time and effort it takes consumers to find and evaluate online services and provides an alternative to using search engines and social bookmarking services.  

What are online services / sites / web-based services?
Online services are defined as any product or service that is dependent upon the Internet for use and distribution. Examples of web-based services are Online DVD Rental Services, Web Browsers, Social Networking Services, and even Internet Routers.

How do I rate a site / web service?
On the site main page, there is a “Rate This Site” button and anywhere you see a rate icon takes you to the site rating submission page. You can only rate a service if you have registered for a SiteRapture account and are logged in.

Do I get paid for rating / reviewing sites?
Sometimes. Every so often we run promotions in order to incent users to chip in and write reviews. We we have one of these promotions running, we notify users and display a money earned earned total when you login to your SiteRapture account. If you see this total money earned section, all you have to do is submit your review / rating and you earn $1.00.  It's just that simple!  However all reviews / ratings are subject to approval by our editorial team for content and substance.  Your review must be at least 50 words in length as has to meet our editorial guidelines in order to recieve your $1.00.

When do you get paid for rating / reviewing sites?
Once you have accumulated over $50 in earnings (submitted 50 reviews / ratings), you can request a check and you will be mailed the check for the amount in your account.  Please allow 2-4 weeks to receive your check from the time you request a check. 

Where do your service ratings come from?
Our service ratings come from our registered users and our internal editors. Our internal editors are employed by SiteRapture and provide professional ratings/reviews on web-based services to compare against user generated ratings/reviews.

Who are your editors?
Our editors are professional writers, web enthusiasts, and industry experts that are on staff at SiteRapture. Some of our editors are based in our offices and some of them are remote and located around the world. SiteRapture screens its internal editors for experience, writing ability, and their ability to provide objective research for our community.

How many editors do you have?
We currently have 2 in our office and our external network of editors consists of 5 editors.

What are Third Party Experts?
Third Party Experts are people or companies that publish reports on web-based services and are not affiliated with SiteRapture. Companies like PCMagazine, ConsumerRerports.org and others publish reviews and research that we sometimes summarize for our users and link to the full reports.

What are my recommendations based on?
Your recommendations are based on multiple variables which include:

Your Friends – Based on which services your friends are using, we recommend services to you Most Favorited Sites – This simply gives you the sites that users have added to their favorites the most based on your category preferences

Network Popularity (Highest Rated) – Based on the sheer popularity ratings of services on our network, we make recommendations to you

Similar Sites – Based on the sites that you currently like, we recommend sites that are very similar in functionality and scores

Other recommendations variables are coming so stay tuned!

What are How-To’s/Tutorial Walk-throughs?
How-tos are written descriptions of how to do certain things on certain services. For example, users may write How-To articles on how to customize your MySpace page or how to embed a certain type of widget without having to use HTML. How-tos can be written for anything that can be done on a particular service.

What are My Favorites?
My Favorites are the sites that you deem your favorites in each category. Your favorite sites are not necessarily your highest rated sites but the sites you just enjoy the most for whatever reason.

Why would anyone want to review sites (what are the incentives)?
We expect users to feel as though they have a say and impact how services operate so we expect them to participate when it comes to rating a service that they have used. Also, we have weekly and monthly contests for the users that rate the most sites and have the highest rating and most viewed reviews. As a way to thank our users for actively participating, we sometimes share a portion of our advertising revenue generated from our review pages with our review contributors.

Can I submit sites/services you don’t have listed?
Yes, you can submit a service not currently listed in our database by going to our add a site section (click here).When submitting new sites, the site is listed in our Pending Web Services section shown on the master categories page. Our editorial team reviews the site for content and categorization and if the site passes our internal policies for a qualified web service, the site is then shown to the public and listed in the category it was submitted for others to check out.

Are all sites/services tested and rated by your internal editors?
Yes, all sites/services are tested by our internal team before they are listed on SiteRapture. This process just ensures that the site meets our standards for a qualified web-based service within a specific category.

What is a site category?
A category is defined as a group of services that offer the same underlying features and target the same consumers. For example, any service that offers online DVD rentals as a service would be grouped in the Online DVD Category.

Can services be listed in multiple categories?
No, for consistency reasons, a service can’t be listed in multiple categories. SiteRapture employs a very stringent review process and if a site is deemed unfit for a specific category, we will remove it and place it in the category that best fits the service.

How are web services selected to be added to your service?
Our editors work relentlessly at finding new websites and services for inclusion in the SiteRapture network. We also allow users to submit services to our network to be reviewed by our staff.

How many web services are listed in your database?
We have over 1000 web-based services listed in our database and we are adding more each month.

How many web categories are covered in your database?
We currently have 15 service categories listed on our database and we are adding more each month.

What are Actions?
Actions are a way to find new services or service categories. An action is a phrase that states what a user wants to do. For example, for someone looking for music sites, they may specifically want to “Download Digital Music” or “Listen to Online Radio Stations”. These actions allow users to find categories that match that action.

What is SitePicker (coming soon)?
SitePicker is a new way to find web-based services. It’s simply, you simply input the type of service you are looking for (features, category, ratings, etc.) and SitePicker provides you with a list of sites that match that criteria.

How do I compare web services?
You can compare services from the Compare Site Features section and in you’re my Favorites section.

Can I compare web services that are in different categories?
You can’t compare services that are in different categories because its not an “apples-to-apples” comparison. The features and options offered within different categories are drastically different so there is no true way to compare these services other than by scores.

Can I change my review/rating after I have posted it?
Yes.  Simply click on the My Info link at the top of the page after you have logged in and then click on the MyReviewed/Rated Sites.  You will see all of your reviews/ratings and be able to click on an individual rating/review and edit the rating and the review text.

How do I update my username/password?
Click on Edit My Account from the top right information box and then click the Change My Password link in the left hand navigation. Follow the instructions to change your password.

How do I change my email settings?
Click on Edit My Account from the top right information box and then click the Change Account Info link in the left hand navigation. Find your email address, change it, then click submit changes.

How do I see which services my friends are using?
Click on My Recommendations in the top right information box. Click on the link Sites My Friends Like.

How do I invite my friends to use the service?
There are a few ways to invite friends. The first is the use the “Send a Friend” options on the research pages and site lists and send that to friends. Also, on your profile page, there is an invite friends section that allows you to invite your friends to join SiteRapture.

How do I invite existing users to be my friend?
On the user’s profile page that you want to be your friend, click the “Add to Friends List.” You can then click on your inbox (located at the top right info box) and see this pending friend request in your mail box. Once that user has accepted you as a friend, they will show up on your Friends List.

How do I take someone off of my friends list?
In your profile page, click on Edit/Change link in the Friends List. Click the “Drop Friend” link beside the user’s name and then that user will be deleted from your Friends List.

How do email alerts work?
Alerts are our way of letting you know what’s going on in the world of web-based services. Once you decide to sign up for a specific type of alert, you will receive messages delivered to your email address and/or your SiteRapture Inbox. The types of alerts are as follows:

MyFavorites/Bookmarked Sites News Alerts
Category News Alerts
MyFriends Reviews/Ratings Alerts

Do I receive alerts when any of my friends writes a review/rates?
Yes. In your Email account settings, make sure that you check the “Friends Reviews/Ratings Alert” checkbox. An alert will be sent to your email address on file and to your SiteRapture Inbox.

Do I receive any site or category alerts when new sites launch or when content is added?
In your Email account settings, make sure that you check the “Category News Alerts” and “My Favorite Sites News Alerts” checkbox. An alert will be sent to your email address on file and to your SiteRapture Inbox.

What is my review level?
Your review level is a way for the community to measure your activity as a reviewer. Basically, the more active you are as a reviewer and the better your reviews are based on community feedback, the higher your review level/score. There are 3 levels of reviewers:

Research Intern - Less than 10 reviews
Research Analyst - Between 10 and 50 reviews
Research Expert - Between 50 and 100 reviews
Research Guru - Over 100 reviews

How are the review levels calculated?
Review levels are calculated using our proprietary calculation that takes into effect the following activity:

# of Ratings, Review Scores of Ratings, # of Categories for which a rating was given, # of Review Scores Given to Other Users, # of New Sites Submitted & Approved

What if people are purposely giving bad review scores to give them an advantage?
Our systems detect behavior like this by analyzing the general public’s scores vs those given by individual users. If for whatever reason a user is seen as defrauding the system, their accounts will be terminated and their scores removed.

What are questions / issues?
Site questions / issues are submitted by users and they can ask whatever they want.  How to use a certain feature, how to download or install something, how to fix something, where to get certain things on the net, the list goes on and on but any question can be asked.  Other users and our editors can answer or comment on the question. 

What are Hot Sites?
Hot sites are sites that over the past few weeks or few months, have significantly increased in one of many activity areas including added to favorites, pageviews, traffic, etc. Hot sites change daily.

What are Quick Picks?
Quick Picks are quick recommendations based on specific variables in a category. For example, Best Travel Social Networking Site, Largest Network, etc. are variables for Social Networking sites that we pick the best sites for based on our editors and our users’ scores and input.

How are Quick Picks made?
Quick Picks are made by our internal editors with input from our network of our users.

What is the What to Look For section?
Shows descriptions of important things consumers should look for within a specific service category when evaluating services (i.e. number of photos you can upload, size of network, etc.).

What is the Site Test Scores section?
Shows lists of services and their scores within the following areas: user scores, editor scores, advertisement/sponsor display, customer service, site layout/design, navigation/ease of use, company identity, features/functionality, trust factor/security, reliability/up-time, page load/site speed, content quality, and content rating.

What is the Category News section?
Shows all news, press, and announcements related to a specific service category

What is the Site Pricing section?
Lists whether or not users have to pay anything to use a particular service.

How are services tested by your internal team?
Each category is tested based on the specific feature sets and variables associated with a specific category. Test plans are created for each category and each site within a specific category is tested against the same test plan to create an apples to apples comparison scenario. All products are tested by SiteRapture before they are officially listed on our network and we retest product based on changes within a particular category over time.

What are content ratings and how are they calculated?
Content ratings are indicators that show if a sites content is appropriate for certain age groups.  It's calculated just like all of our other ratings which take averages(sometimes weighted) from our user and editor reviews.

Where do you get your traffic stats from?
We acquire our traffic stats from different stat providers including Alexa other data providers. Traffic data is not provided by SiteRapture so we are not responsible for inaccurate data from these sources.

What if information you have on a specific site is incorrect?
If information is found to be inaccurate, please contact us and we will immediately look into the matter. We only correct content created by our internal editor team and not from users. Users can say what they want as long as they comply with site content policies and guidelines.

Who determines which features are listed for a category?
Our internal editor teams have the responsibility to make sure that the right features are listed based on feedback from our community. If there is something that you think should be changed, please let us know.

What happens if I don’t fill out my profile or demographic information?
You will not be able to maximize the sites that we recommend to you or entice others to communicate with you regarding new sites, tutorials, tips, etc.. SiteRapture is a research, discovery, and recommendation service and we can not provide you with recommendations without information from you. However, this information is not required so you will still be able to get recommendations from us and other users, they just won't be as relevant or accurate.

How many photos can I upload?
Right now, you can only upload one (1) photo on your profile page. We will be adding additional photo functionality in the future.

How do I submit a video walk-through/tutorial?
In order to submit a tutorial or video walk-through/tutorial, go to the main page of the site you want to write about and click the Submit a Tutorial button.  Then follow the steps for submitting your information.

What does recommending someone do?
Recommending a user on their profile page endorses them as a good researcher/ reviewer. If you like a particular user’s reviews, video tutorials, or how tos, then you should recommend that user so that they can get the recognition they deserve for providing you with good information.

What are My Review Stats?
You’re my Review Stats section tells you how well your reviews/ratings are helping other users (whether they see them as helpful). The better your review stats, the better your reviewer level and the more you are respected by the community.

What are My How-To Stats?
You’re my How-to Stats section tells you how well your how-tos/tutorials are helping other users (whether they see them as helpful). The better your review stats, the better your reviewer level and the more you are respected by the community.

What are your testing procedures?
We have very stringent testing procedures to ensure that every service is thoroughly tested before it is presented to our users. Each site within a specific category is tested using the same test plan as others in the category and sites are retested as needed over time by SiteRapture. Because services and categories change, we will always list new reviews and test results for sites as they evolve and improve (or not) their service.

How long does it take to test services?
This depends on the type of service it is but the time it takes ranges from one hour minutes to 5 days to thoroughly test certain types of services.

How and where are you producing your research, testing, and video content?
Our research is primarily produced in our content studios located at our corporate office in Los Angeles, CA. However, we use third party companies and studios to produce content as well.