Here's a scenario - someone mentions a site, or you find a link in an ezine, and... you click. Wow, they're offering something that really appeals to you.
What to do? Can you trust em"? Should you join? Is it safe to download their free software or ebooks, etc.?
Here's how to check them out thoroughly, and develop a good eye of discernment that can tell the difference between the good, the mediocre, the downright scam, and the truly excellent.
1. Read over the index page - get general tone and the purpose of this site. Read the words on two levels, at face value, and with your gut instinct sniff for too much exaggeration, or cliches, or a focus on a money grab. Don't gulp down the headlines as if they are the gospel truth. The bigger they are the more they are shouting. Do you smell carnival cotton candy?
2. Look for "About Us," or "My Testimony," or My Story," links. Click on them and read those pages. That's where the owners of the site have loosened up and are telling you about themselves. A good testimony can give you a good idea of where a person is coming from and how they will relate to you.
In fact, if a site doesn't have a place to introduce themselves and make me feel comfortable with them, I click off. I prefer to do business with a potential friend, not strangers.
(Besides, I once promised Mom and Grosz'mama when I left home to work in the city, that I would never pick up strangers. So I don't. I make friends first).
3. Look for Contact info, and an address. If that web owner won't say where in the world he or she is located, they may be trying to hide something. An individual's photo shows she is not ashamed to be seen with the product or message of their site. Even when not good looking, you can read a lot about a person's integrity in their eyes.
4. Watch out for bad spelling or grammar. The poor smoo may be a great person, but if he doesn't have the wits to use a spell-checker, or have someone check it over first, he may be the type to slap things together, and dash off as soon as he has your money. Or your name.
Recently one friend who has to use a library computer to do his online business, emailed me to join up a new site he'd found with a matrix that was sure to put lots of money into my PayPal account. I checked it out and wrote back, "Uh-uh. No-name there can't spell worth beans. I am not that trusting! I pass."
5. If if's a portal or membership community site, and it offers things like free email and web pages, check the site out first, by reading as much as you can. Some web pages are junk, I've found (by trying them), so now I read the helps info first to see exactly what are they offering. Then, since it's free, if you have time and inclination, sign up for free stuff and try it. You can always resign by sending an email, or ignoring the site.
6. Once you decide to join - always take time to read the Terms of Service or contract for membership. Especially when you are new to things on the web, a Newbie.
After a reading a number of them, you'll discover they are essentially saying, "You are taking all the risk; if it doesn't measure up - you can't sue us. But don't you dare take advantage of us, or misuse our copyright, cause then we'll sue you but good!" I take them with a pinch of salt.
My take is that I'm not very likely to sue anybody, and as long as I can get rid of the thing if I'm unhappy with it, and it won't hide in my computer forever, then I'm game to try it out. Unless I smell immoral, unethical garbage, and to discern that, I often stop to pray and listen for a yeah or nay, from the Holy Spirit.
Notice; there are software programs that act as invisible spies for their owners, reporting on what sites you visit, what you buy, etc. So try to avoid them if you can. There is a site (Shields Up), which will check your computer and tell you which programs you are running right now that are spyware. They may not be malware (malicious) but they do steal your privacy.
See? There are fine sites out there, but you find them by carefully searching - or latch onto someone whose sense of discernment you can trust until you learn.
7. When you do sign up for membership, or email or web site, always, ALWAYS write down the key details, like the user name you put down, and your password. Go to the login page and book mark it so you can find it easily again. Be very methodical in this, and your net life will be pleasant.
(Free idea: I use a home made card system filed in caddies, made by cutting low tissue boxes in half, and taping the ends together; I've got a whole row of green marble ones on my desk).
Honestly, there is good stuff out there on the world wide web, but take your brains and your heart along, think and pause to consult your instinctive feelings about a site or business before you get involved. Caution, like wearing a bike helmet, is better than smashing your head to find out what's unsafe.
Before too long you'll have an ever-widening circle of new friends whom you trust and delight in, but look new things over with your new discerning, cautious eye first.
Back to New-to-Net (index).
Ruth Marlene Friesen
The Responsible One
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Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada