A Twitter account mocking bad Calgary parkers is the latest venue for anonymously ranting about others. As the Herald’s Dylan Robertson explains, dealing with online reputations remains a mostly uncharted territory.

Searching Robert Reid’s name online shows he’s an I.T. consultant from Ontario who likes Pink Floyd. It also claims he’s a “total loser who treats women like crap and thinks he is better then [sic] everyone.” So reads an anonymously posted screed on CheaterVille.com that includes Reid’s full name and face.

The post has netted 2.3 million views.

“The information there is totally made up,” says Reid. “It’s crazy.”

CheaterVille.com is one of dozens of “online shaming” websites that are lauded and despised for allowing people’s online reputations to be defined by anonymous users.



A growing trend



James McGibney founded the CheaterVille.com site on Valentine’s Day 2011, after learning a fellow U.S. Marine had been cheated on during their deployment.

“Wouldn’t it be good if a site can warn someone about people like that,” thought McGibney, whose site has become “an online-dating resource tool” where thousands have weeded out potential mates with checkered pasts.

Online shaming comes in many forms. Last month, the founder of a Twitter account dedicated to bad Edmonton parking started a Calgary version. The site reposts photos tagged “DBagParkingYYC,” showing everything from pickup trucks straddling sidewalks to sedans splayed diagonally across four spots.

There’s even “dog shaming,” where pet owners write confessions of eating household objects or urinating in questionable places and photograph their sombre mutts posing with the placards.

Other sites have more serious implications, like BadTenantsList.ca, which allows landlords to call out deadbeat occupants without proof. Another blog, Public Shaming, has come under fire for aggregating racist tweets by teenagers that show their names and faces, some of whom report being suspended or fired from jobs.

In the case of CheaterVille.com, Reid says he’s lucky to have a common name and that he’s not dating, but he admits it can seriously impact other people’s lives.

“These things can define who you are to a lot of people,” says Reid, the only one of 10 Calgarians bashed on the website who agreed to an interview with the Herald.



A legal grey zone



McGibney is quick to mention that CheaterVille.com moderators remove any information that could compromise personal safety. But he’s unapologetic that his site shows up prominently in Google searches, and could ruin someone’s reputation without any proof.

“We’re really no different than Facebook or Twitter; Twitter’s not gonna remove a tweet,” he says, adding that people should think critically about the quality of allegations lobbed online.

Once posted online, only the original poster can remove the information. There is an appeals process — which costs $199 U.S. — where third-party lawyers review the case and have it removed if it’s overwhelmingly false.

Reid only saw the link two years after it was posted in 2010, when a Florida law firm messaged him offering their costly services. He put the posting on his Facebook page, saying the allegations were worth a laugh.

“If you take ownership over something you can diminish what someone’s trying to do.”