Three Ways to Ruin a Reputation Online
05. May, 2008 
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A few days ago I read an article from Daily Blog Tips about managing reputations online.
A good reputation is a hard thing to earn. It can take years to build a good reputation, and only seconds to destroy it.
A while back I wrote an article here talking about how to irritate your readers. The same irritants of readers can also be very effective ways to ruin your reputation online.
Within this article I will highlight three ways one can easily ruin a reputation online.
1. Hack your readers into submission
I am a WordPress plugin author. I’ve also developed a few themes as well.
Having done both, I realize there are many ways I could hack into a person’s blog. All I would have to do is provide myself a back-door.
Earlier this week one of my friends discovered her blog was hacked. In the source were many links pointing to spammy sites. This is a constant problem with WordPress themes, especially if the theme has been hijacked by a third-party theme site.
Plugins can provide the same issues as themes. Plugin authors can create user accounts, track the plugin’s usage using stealthy code, and even harvest commenter e-mails.
However, what happens when this plugin and theme “hacker” is discovered? Well, let’s just say their reputation will take a nose dive and the person will never be trusted in a community such as WordPress.
2. Promise, Promise, Promise, and Never Deliver
We all have been in a situation where we have promised something, but never delivered.
I personally have promised plugins or designs, but then life just gets in the way. In those situations, it’s helpful to be transparent and honest.
However, there are some that are content to always promise something. The next big contest, or giveaway. A free e-book or membership site. A brand new theme or program.
It gets to the point where I just want to tell the person, “When are you going to stop talking and actually do something?”
I realize people are extremely busy and things are forgotten rather easily. I have this problem, and I’m sure I’m not alone. After a while though, people get sick of the empty promises.
3. Lie and Get Caught
When one announces a contest and a fake winner, readers get pissed off.
In the blogosphere, news spreads like wildfire. When Ashwin Khanna scammed a bunch of bloggers into a fake contest, they became angry.
How’s he doing? See for yourself.
There’s nothing to gain from lying, whether it is to get traffic, advertisers, or subscribers. Long-term, lying simply will not pay off.
Reputations are fragile…
Reputations are eerily fragile. It’s almost discomforting. But most of the cases I’ve seen where a reputation suffered, the person basically did it to himself.
Whether it’s a politician and a talkative ex-pastor, or a bride who ran away, reputations are there to haunt us or help us.
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Wow man, I googled that Ashwin guy and read the contest blogger article and that was a few shades of shady right there. And he will never again be able to use his real name in the blogosphere
But, like you said, reputations are so hard to build and them maintain and yet, they are extremely fragile. Better to build bridges with people than burn them down. And in this day in age where someones name or someones blog ends up becoming a personal brand, reputation is as important as ever.
@Jeffro,
I remember you mentioning that’s why you’ve chosen to keep your name as it is.
Yea, that is true. I feel as though that if I screw up, it’s really going to hurt me. Seems like even the simple mistakes may screw up my reputation.
Hi Ronald,
Wow, I had never heard of the Ashwin Khanna saga up till now, but geez what a story.
He won’t just struggle in the blogosphere but in the real world as well. I’ve been looking around for some interesting online reputation case studies – this is definitely an awesome one, thanks for the find.