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Q: Why should I register as a Rate It Green Individual Community Member?
A: Once an individual completes the Registration and Member Survey, he or she is a full community member and can take full advantage of the benefits offered within the Rate It Green community. Individual Community Members can post reviews/ratings of the green building products and services they have worked with, and they can post questions and/or share information on any public forum or board. To protect your privacy as desired, all Individual Community Members create a unique public name and user identity. Some people choose to use their full names, while others use parts of their names and still others make up a creative site name to "go by." Individual members also contribute to our understanding of the green market even just through filling out the registration survey. This survey helps us serve members better and provides critical green building market data .
You are welcome to register with Rate It Green and take your time to complete the Registration survey, or perhaps decide not to fill it out at all. This will entitle you to some but not all site benefits. For example, you will be able to view Member Profiles not available to the general public.
Rate It Green's Green Building Directory is open to the public. So if you are most comfortable browsing, there is still a great deal you can learn from others by browsing the site. Our memberships are free, but we do ask that people make a commitment to the community to fully join by registering and also by taking the time and sharing information with us through the survey. As we hope to pay for our programming through future market research data generation, we very much appreciate people making this commitment to share with us. We also believe that people who can give some information are really more likely to be more active community members who ask questions, answer questions when they can, and who will be most conscientious about completing ratings/reviews of our member companies' products and services.
Q: Why do I have to fill out a survey? And, what if I do not want to complete a survey?
A: We strongly encourage all Rate It Green users to register with Rate It Green and to renew key pieces of information with us on a regular basis. As an online community, we are committed to growing the green building market through shared resources and information. Information about the community of individuals and companies that form the market for green building products is an important resource we can leverage to help grow the marketplace. The more users share about their characteristics and participation in that market, the more robust our community can be and the more we can conduct quality research.
The Rate It Green membership survey is designed to capture important statistical information we believe will assist us in serving our members as well as provide important research for understanding and expanding the green building market. Some of this information we plan to share with members and others within the green community. And we may also share or sell aggregate industry data (never personal or confidential information) or produce reports or research based on this data.
Some things to keep in mind as you decide whether or not to register:
Q: Can I also Register a Company with Rate It Green if I have an Individual Account?
A: You can absolutely register a company you represent in addition to becoming an Individual Community Member. We ask that you create only one personal account for consistency as you relate to others within the community through the site, though you may open a Corporate Account for as many companies as you are authorized to represent.
We encourage people to create both types of accounts, as they have more freedom to express themselves with some privacy protection as Individual Community Members. Whenever a company posts, the company name is always shown as follows: "Company Name - Company Representative." So Corporate Account Administrators need to be somewhat careful that all posts and participation represent their company as they wish. In contract, your individual account reveals only about you what you wish.
You do not have to register as an Individual Community Member in order to register a company and submit items to the Directory/database. Likewise, you do not need to create a company account to become an Individual Community Member.
Q: How do the two Membership Types differ?
A: Individual Registration: Once an individual completes the Member Registration Survey, he or she can take full advantage of the benefits offered within the Rate It Green community. These activities include but are not limited to posting on any public forum or board, and completing ratings/reviews within the Rate It Green Directory. To protect their privacy, all Individual Community Members create a unique Name and User Identity where they can choose how much of their identity to reveal, or not to reveal. This User Identity is a key difference between the two account types. Rate It Green is aware of the full identity of the Individual Member, but the member is able to protect his or her privacy as desired. Individuals who register but do not complete the Member Registration Survey enjoy some privileges, such as the ability to view full member profiles not available to the general public. Individual memberships are not open to companies or other entities.
Company Registration: Once a company registration has been completed, Authorized Representatives may manage the company's account online, including submitting items to the Rate It Green Directory/database. Companies are always identified by their organizational name (and never an individual name) when someone logged in as the Authorized Representative posts content or otherwise participates on the site. Registered Companies CAN post ratings/reviews and post on our forums. The posts will be identified as "Company Name - Company Representative." Please plan carefully before posting content with your company's name on it.
Q: Will Rate It Green give out my personal information or email address?
A: Rate It Green does not sell, rent, or otherwise give out your personal or confidential company information. Please see the privacy note below or view our full Privacy Policy. Rate It Green may sell or otherwise share aggregate market data from time to time. This type of data does not contain information that identifies individuals or organizations. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact a Rate It Green team member. We value your membership and comfort level as a member of our community, and we want you to feel comfortable that your privacy is our utmost concern.
Q: Is Membership really Free?
A: Individual Community Membership is free and will always be free of charge. This is one reason we do ask our Members to "contribute" to the community's knowledge base by completing a Registration Survey to fully enjoy the privileges of the site. In the future, we will also have very brief annual updates with fewer than ten questions. Keep in mind that having a survey is also a nice form of "investment" everyone makes to join the community. This leads us to believe that people who are more likely to become active members who will ask questions and share experiences and answers as they can are more likely to fully register with Rate It Green.
Basic product and service listings are also free of charge. However, Rate It Green does offer Enhanced, or upgraded, listings for a fee. The idea is to create an inclusive community where everyone feels welcome and have a voice. So the free part is really essential to building a robust community. Companies that see the benefits from their participation and can afford to help support further programming are invited to do so by upgrading their listings and/or otherwise supporting the site financially. This said, there are many ways for companies to get involved as well that do not cost money.
Q: Why is the System Rejecting my Email Address/User Identity? Especially since I am already a Member?
A: Please note that the email address you use to create each account is part of its unique identity. Therefore, you will need to use a different email address should you decide to create more than one account. If you have any questions or need help, please contact us. We greatly appreciate that many people have decided to become individual members of the community in addition to registering their companies so that they might also share what they know personally about green building on our public forums and through ratings and reviews.
Q: What if I need to Edit my Registration Information?
A: Most information is easily edited within the Member Dashboard area you will have access to once you register. We ask that people think carefully and not edit certain registration details if at all possible, especially once they have posted on the site. So, for a few changes, these must go through the Site Administrator to ensure that we balance the needs of all community stakeholders most effectively (An example would be posting many ratings and then wanting to completely change your site identity. We'd like to consider this carefully first, since other community members may have already read and relied on these postings.)
Q: Why do some companies have limited information, or a phrase that reads, "This company has not yet registered with Rate It Green. Feel free to contact this company via the web listing provided and let someone know you would like to learn more about this product/service on Rate It Green! ...."
A: We add products and services into our system from time to time so that members may have basic information about products and services in the green building marketplace until we can provide additional information. These are very limited "temporary" listings in place so that our site can be productive for our members while we allow companies time to find out about us and register.
There are three ways a Company or Item (generally a Product or Service) can be listed on the Rate It Green site:
1. Rate It Green Team Members learn about the product or service during our research
2. Community Members like you suggest items for addition to the site, which Rate It Green will then research and add if appropriate
3. Companies/Organizations register and/or add their own products and services through the registration process
Listed companies have an opportunity to "take over" these listings during corporate registration so that they may provide more up to date and accurate information for you than we might be able to. We view these listings as an opportunity for companies to speak directly to our Visitors and Site Members, and we therefore much prefer them to fill out their own content.
We encourage site Visitors and Members who have familiarity with unregistered companies in the directory to suggest to these folks that they go ahead and register and share more information with our community.
Q: What are your Listing Criteria for listed companies and their products or services?
A: Our goal is quite simply to list EVERY green building related product or service out there. If an item is being sold as a green building related item, we want it listed on Rate It Green! It may sound shocking to say this, but we therefore don't have listing criteria. The idea is to create this inclusive list and get everyone talking. What works best? What needs improvement? We believe that we can create the most helpful resource if we collect as much information as possible and help people share what they know. Keep in mind that this is a peer-review resource - our goal is that we generate enough ratings so that people will get an accurate average sense of what it is like to use and item and to work with a company or organization.
Q: What if I wish to change/edit a rating?
A: You can edit a rating, but you need to do this through a Rate It Green Administrator. Once content is posted of this type, we want to be very careful about modifying it and just make sure changes are consistent. For example, it may not make sense to edit a year-old review that many people viewed, and perhaps in that case we might work together to come up with a better idea for conveying a perceived change in item quality. Our team will work as hard as possible to balance the needs of all community stakeholders in this kind of a situation.
Q: Can I post a reply to a rating/review?
A: Right now we are working with companies to find a way for them to post a reply if they feel they need to comment on a rating/review. We do not currently plan for Individual Members to do this. We recommend completing a review if you believe you have something informative to say about a product or service. We will also have a Forum/Communications area where people can express opinions on a variety of topics. We believe keeping reviews as close to the original form as possible will protect the quality of information as much as is possible (as comments and replies that are more forum-like could get lost. An additional review holds a more equal weight).
Q. Who can review a product/service/item?
A: Anyone who has worked with a product or service and is a fully Registered Individual Community Member who has taken our Registration Survey or is the Authorized Representative of a registered Corporate Member can complete a review/rating. Individual ratings will show the Individual Member Identity created at Registration, and Corporate Ratings will identify the posting entity as follows; "Company Name - Company Representative." We do ask that companies and Company Representatives refrain from rating the items they represent.
*For more information about our Ratings/Reviews generally, see our Ratings FAQ page.
Q: Who are Rate It Green's Visitors and Members, and What Information are they Generally Seeking?
A: Rate It Green welcomes everyone interested in green building to be a site Visitor or Community Member. Individual Members might be architects, engineers, contractors, designers, property owners or educators and their students learning about green building. Member companies might be looking to learn about green building or might be ready to share what they know and list their products and services. The Green Building Industry is a rapidly growing field and is expected to constitute a $96 - $140 billion dollar market by 2013 (McGraw Hill, 2009). Our members understand current building trends in energy and resource consumption are simply not sustainable, and they believe we can and should do better. They are also eager to take part in a market that can clearly be a leader and cornerstone of a shift to a green economy. Questions Rate It Green Individual Members want to explore include:
In sum, what do people shopping for more sustainable products need to know? And, how can we each do our part to increase the momentum of the green building movement, as well as help manufacturers and service providers know what they can do better?
Corporate Members are likely eager to know how best to meet the needs of their target markets. They can show off their offerings and gain valuable feedback through our Directory and ratings/reviews. They can also participate in engaging discussions through our online forums.
Q: What is different about Rate It Green?
A: Two of our top goals at Rate It Green are to create the largest green building directory and to become THE peer-review resource for the green building industry. If we can accomplish these goals we believe we can achieve the greatest impact. Rate It Green differentiates itself from other current directory resources in providing a portal and in trying to connect as many people as possible to help continue the expansion of the green building industry. We want Rate It Green to be a comprehensive and open resource , so we determined that Individual Membership and our Basic Corporate Listings would always be free. This decision allows us to be all inclusive and to retain a sense of neutrality. This is also a key distinction between us and some other directory sites that charge and therefore may not list as many resources. Finally, we are connectors more than we claim to be experts. It is our members who will be judging products and not the Rate It Green management team. A top goal is to connect these people who can both share their expertise and ask for the information they need. And further, we wish to help these people and organizations find the products and services they are looking for.
How is Rate It Green different? Distinctions include:
It is also worth noting that there are more resources and data points coming online than when Rate it Green started. We see this as a positive development! Technically speaking, Rate It Green might be seen to "compete" with any avenue for learning about green building. But we don't see the market in this way. In fact, we published a guide to all of the resources we have found. We believe that the more information we can help create and help people find, the more the whole market benefits.
Q: What is your business model?
A: Impact is #1 at Rate It Green. Based on our own experiences trying to find experience-based advice on green building materials, we decided that this resource was needed and could have a substantial impact in time, regardless of any potential financial opportunities. It was therefore easy for us to make a commitment to free Individual Membership and free Basic Corporate Listings early in the process of developing this site.
Though our mission is socially positive, Rate It Green is technically and currently a self-funded for-profit business. Rate It Green does accept advertising and sponsorship which can support some of the costs of developing this resource for the green building community. We take care to make the difference between editorial and advertising content quite clear, and there are pages where we determined that it is not appropriate to advertise. A large part of our future business model relies on being able to create valuable demographic information (anonymous - we never sell, rent or otherwise share private information) that describes the green building industry and can help predict future needs and trends. However, a strong demographic database information may take some time to develop.
Q: How can I get more involved?
A: There are many ways to get involved with Rate It Green that do not cost money and are quite helpful. Top Individual Member opportunities include:
Send us suggestions and feedback any time
Your participation and ideas are always welcome. We also have suggestions for ways companies can get involved that also do not cost money. Sponsorship and Advertising are appreciated and helpful to be sure, but there are so many other ways to help grow this community as well!
At Rate It Green, we value your privacy and will never sell or give out your personal or confidential company information. Please contact us or click on the privacy button on the site to read our full Privacy Policy.
When you register with Rate It Green, you agree to be bound by our User Agreement and Site Usage Policies. Please review these policies carefully to make sure you understand your opportunities and obligations as a Community Member. Rate It Green is a community of people committed to making the world a better place by expanding the green building materials and design markets. As such, we expect members to act and communicate in an appropriate and constructive manner towards each other. Rate It Green reserves the right to take actions as appropriate in our discretion including but not limited to the editing of postings, removal of postings, or even the revocation of membership if company policies and community norms are violated.
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