bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Creators of an app that will let people assign ratings to those they know vowed to launch as planned next month despite online outrage at the idea.
“Peeple” has been likened by critics and supporters alike as a Yelp-style review service at which people are rated, without their consent, the same way a person might give a grade to a restaurant or an airline.
Yelp was quick to make it clear it was not associated with the Peeple startup, which some reports valued at US$7.6 million based on investment funding raised.
Peeple is an app for rating and commenting about those who one interacts with in daily life personally, professionally, or romantically, according to the forthepeeple.com website.
Founders and close friends Julia Cordray and Nicole McCullough defended their creation on Thursday as an online venue for praise and constructive feedback.
A firestorm of criticism at Twitter, Facebook and other online venues countered that the creators of Peeple were either naively or intentionally downplaying how nasty commentary can get on the Internet.
“Innovators are often put down because people are scared and they don’t understand,” read a message from chief executive Cordray at the Peeple website.
“We are bold innovators and sending big waves into motion and we will not apologise for that.”
Cordray referred to Peeple as a “positivity app” that will launch in November.
“Whether you love us or our concept or not; we still welcome everyone to explore this online village of love and abundance for all,” the website message said.
Peeple lets people rate friends, family, dating partners, or others with one to five stars.
Subjects being rated are not asked for permission. Raters must log in using Facebook accounts with their real identities, and need only a name and matching mobile phone number of the person they are judging. They must be aged 21 or over.
Positive reviews appear immediately. Negative ratings are held for two days to give the involved parties time to work matters out.
However, people targeted for reviews cannot opt out - once someone puts their name in the Peeple system, it’s there unless they violate the site’s terms of service. Reviewees cannot delete bad, inaccurate or biased reviews.
“As two empathetic, female entrepreneurs in the tech space, we want to spread love and positivity,” Cordray said in an interview. “We want to operate with thoughtfulness.”
Twitter erupted with vitriol aimed at Peeple. A barrage of tweets condemned the idea of an app for rating humans as a nightmare that would be used as a weapon by bullies or stalkers with potentially tragic real-world results.
“At least, I signed up to have the world judge and grade me publicly,” model Christine Teigen said on Twitter. “I ****ing hate this app and the boardroom table it was created around.”
“In an age where both truth and gossip on the Internet can literally ruin lives, this peeple app is horrible and scary,” Teigen said in a separate tweet.
In a move critics pounced on as hypocritical, Peeple’s founders blocked or condemned some of the unsolicited online criticism being fired their way.
In her interview, however, Cordray had enthused about the benefits of receiving “feedback” about our behaviour. “You can really use it to your advantage,” she said.
That justification hasn’t worked out so well, though, for the various edgy apps that have tried it before. In 2013, Lulu promised to empower women by letting them review their dates, and to empower men by letting them see their scores.
After a tsunami of criticism – “creepy”, “toxic”, “gender hate in a prettier package” - Lulu added an automated opt-out feature to let men pull their names off the site. A year later, Lulu further relented by letting users rate only those men who opt in. In its current iteration, 2013’s most controversial start-up is little more than a minor dating app.
Additional reporting by the Washington Post
 
 


Yelp for humans: Peeple, a people-rating app, sparks a firestorm of criticism

"Actually, I think you're awful". A screenshot of the website promoting the upcoming Peeple app. Photo: Forthepeeple.com

News

World