Mass rating tool
Contents
Introduction
The mass rating tool allows you to rate up to 100 sites at the same time, leaving each site the same rating and comment. This is useful when rating a large number of sites with the same owner, for example. You should always act responsibly when using the mass rating tool. Using it is a privilege, which will be taken away from users suspected of spamming or abuse.
The mass rating tool was introduced to the WOT Community back in September of 2008 and was originally offered to users who had obtained the Gold level or higher Platinum level activity score. Credit is given to WOT user Lordpake for the original suggestion of a mass submission tool.
Availability
On December 28, 2009 an announcement was made informing the WOT Community that access to the mass rating tool has changed to Platinum level users; while current Gold level members who already have access to the mass rating tool will retain that access. However, new Gold level members will have to reach Platinum level before they are awarded the privilege. This change came as a result of members abusing the use of the tool by rating published blacklists and host files without verifying the validity of the source and for not checking these list entries for accuracy. Sometimes innocent sites are mistakenly added to these lists, known as a false positive, or sites are added temporarily because they were compromised, in neither case should these sites Reputation suffer long term effects within WOT from this misuse.
User profile location
When a member has reached the Platinum level activity score, they will notice in their User Profile a new menu tab labeled Mass rating. Simply open your profile and you can see if you have the mass rating tool available.
Mass rating tool components
- Domain entry box
- Category selection
- Reputation rating
- Comment section
- Replacement option
- Mass delete
- Submit
Domain entry box
This is where you may place IP numbers or domain names that you are going to rate and comment as a group. The mass rating tool will rate up to one hundred entries per submission, however, you may place any amount of entries into the box and if over 100, you will receive a message stating the quantity of entries that remain. If you make an entry error, you will be informed with a "failed to rate: domain name" message. These information messages only display for a short time, so you will need to pay attention as you use the mass rating tool. The IP or domain entries may be placed in URL form, simple name comma separated value (CSV), or simple name linear.
Examples:
| URL - one per line | |
|---|---|
| http://www.example.com/ http://127.0.0.1/ http://www.example.net/ http://192.168.1.1/ http://www.example.oeg/ |
| Comma separated | |
|---|---|
| example.com,127.0.0.1,example.net,192.168.1.1,example.org |
| Linear - one per line | |
|---|---|
| example.com 127.0.0.1 example.net 192.168.1.1 example.org |
Category selection
When mass rating domain entries, you must include a comment and select the category that best describes the comments you are making. This component displays a drop-down list of currently available comment categories to choose from. For more information, please refer to the Scorecard Comment article.
Reputation rating
All domain entries that are mass rated will be given the same reputation rating that you select in this section of the mass rating tool. It is exactly the same as making selections on either the Scorecard or within the Rating window.
Comment section
When mass rating websites, you are required to leave a comment. This is something that should be given careful consideration since all entries you chose to rate are going to be rated equally and given the same rating category. Your comments should be precise as to why these domains are being rated in a likewise manner. If you have a linkable source that can either verify or show justification for your ratings, it is preferred that you include it. Be descriptive and authoritative when entering your comments, as well as polite.
Comment variable
To enable your comments to be more precise or to appear more "personal" a variable has been introduced for use in the comment section. The implementation of this feature was announced on the Forum by Timo on 12 January, 2010. Credit for introducing template-style variables in given to G7W.
!domain
!domain is simply replaced with each of the entries being rated that are listed in the domain entry box, whether they are IP numbers, or domain names.
| Domain entry box | a.ns.mywot.com b.ns.mywot.com c.ns.mywot.com d.ns.mywot.com |
| Comment with variable | This nameserver (!domain) is owned by WOT Services Oy and is part of the mywot.com network. |
Click Submit to process your ratings.
| Rated domain | Scorecard comment |
|---|---|
| a.ns.mywot.com | This nameserver (a.ns.mywot.com) is owned by WOT Services Oy and is part of the mywot.com network. |
| b.ns.mywot.com | This nameserver (b.ns.mywot.com) is owned by WOT Services Oy and is part of the mywot.com network. |
| c.ns.mywot.com | This nameserver (c.ns.mywot.com) is owned by WOT Services Oy and is part of the mywot.com network. |
| d.ns.mywot.com | This nameserver (d.ns.mywot.com) is owned by WOT Services Oy and is part of the mywot.com network. |
You can verify the desired output of the comments by reviewing your list of entries in your profile by clicking on the "My Ratings" tab or view them directly by visiting the domain's Scorecard.
More examples of using !domain in reference URL's
Replacement option
The mass rating tool allows you to rate a group of domains in a selected category and leave a comment. You can re-rate these domains and enter a different comment. By default if you have previously rated a domain your new comment replaces the previous one. If you tick the check mark box for this component, WOT will retain your previous comment and append your new one as well.
note: This only works if the newly selected comment category is different from any previously recorded ratings. You cannot have two or more comments of the same category for the same domain.
example: You rate 10 domains that are associated to each other in some way and which you have had a good customer experience with. You may wish to leave a "Good site" comment and then re-rate them to also leave a "Good customer experience" comment. If the check mark box is not checked, your "Good site" will be written over with the "Good customer experience" comment, ticking the check mark box will include both comments on each scorecard of the domains rated.
alternative example: You have a small list of domains that have high reputations for Trustworthiness, Vendor Reliability, and Privacy, yet these domains contain content of a mature nature. You've rated these sites high, excluding the Child Safety reputation which you've lowered to unsatisfactory, poor, or very poor and left a positive comment. You may also wish to leave a warning for parents that the site's content is not suitable for young children. You can leave your ratings as is and rate the domains a second time offering an Adult cautionary comment.
Mass delete
Each Scorecard has the ability for a user to remove their comments and to delete their ratings for a website. The mass rating tool also provides this ability to work with more than one domain at a time. This is useful if you have rated compromised websites that are no longer compromised and wish to remove you comments and ratings from them. Simply enter the list of domains into the domain entry box, check mark this component's option and click Submit. Your previous ratings will be deleted and your comments removed.
Submit
The submit button is confirmation to process ratings for one to one hundred entries. If you have more than one hundred entries for rating, the remainder will be displayed and you are required to Submit them again. This process continues until your entries have been depleted. If you Submit with no entries left in the domain list box, it will appear in red and a error message is displayed stating that you have no entries to process.
Profile privacy settings
As a Platinum Level Member of WOT and having access to the mass-rating tool you are expected to allow open communication from other users who may disagree in how you've rated/commented on a website. Previously, some mass-rating members had disabled receiving messages from other users registered on the Forums by editing Profile -> Edit -> Privacy Settings and turning "Off" their Boards.
A discussion was created on the Forums to disable this feature, in effect forcing mass-rating members to maintain some form of responsibility for their ratings. It was announced on 13 January, 2010 by Timo that this restriction has been implemented. Basically, if a Platinum user has their Board messages set to "Off" they shall still receive private message from other users; naturally if the board is set to "On" there is no change.
Caveat
You have been given this tool because you have rated many domains to achieve the Platinum level status. Be careful as to how you use it, mass rating is a privilege that can be easily taken away. Do not attempt to use this for the sake of increasing your activity score, you might be surprised and discover you no longer have access. Rating a website's reputation is a serious matter. Rating websites is not a game, there is no "race" to see who can rate more. Please be accurate and at the same time be responsible.
