5.1. Asking the Right Questions

When you’re planning a reputation system—as in most endeavors in life—you’ll get much better answers if you spend a little time up front considering the right questions. This is the point where we pause to do just that. We explore some very simple questions: why are we doing this? What do we hope to get out of it? How will we know we’ve succeeded?

The answers to these questions undoubtedly will not be quite so simple. Community sites on the Web vary wildly in makeup, involving different cultures, customs, business models, and rules for behavior. Designing a successful reputation system means designing a system that’s successful for your particular set of circumstances. You’ll therefore need a fairly well-tuned understanding of your community and the social outcomes that you hope to achieve.