Program/Project
Description
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Go2Net is a network of branded, technology- and community-driven Web sites focused on the following categories: personal finance, search and directory, commerce and business services, and games. The company also develops Web-related software.
The Go2Net Labs division develops innovative technologies to enhance the features and functionality of the Go2Net sites and for licensing to other Internet companies.
Language Policy: Go2Net has been active in its efforts to protect children from exposure to inappropriate and negative material on the Internet. By way of example, Go2Net's Silicon Investor site (www.siliconinvestor.com), a stock discussion community of more than 150,000 members, forbids the use of obscenity or profanity in its discussion threads and encourages its members to report any obscenities or inappropriate comments on the discussion threads to the Silicon Investor administrator for appropriate action. The administrator has the discretion to suspend and/or terminate the membership of any member who engages in inappropriate conduct on the site.
Go2Net's PlaySite (www.playsite.com) also has a proprietary program in place throughout its discussion areas to control a player's exposure to obscene or inappropriate language. Go2Net has created proprietary software that reads all text in a particular discussion area and turns any obscene or vulgar language into comic text (@#$%&). PlaySite also has a self-policing policy whereby members can complain to PlaySite volunteers regarding breaches of the site's Code of Conduct, such as the use of vulgarity or other inappropriate language or material. PlaySite has the right to terminate a member's account for a violation of the Code of Conduct.
The policy prohibiting obscene and profane language applies to discussion threads throughout the Go2Net Network. Go2Net's
properties include Go2Net Personal (www.go2net.com), which provides users with a comprehensive Internet start page offering customizable news, discussion, and stock information, as well as direct access to Go2Net's own finance, search, free Web hosting, shopping, and Java multi-player game sites; Silicon Investor (www.siliconinvestor.com), the Web's premier financial discussion site, which also offers proprietary articles, portfolio tracking tools, company research, and news relating to business and finance; MetaCrawler (www.metacrawler.com), a metasearch service that combines various existing search/index guides into one service; Dogpile (www.dogpile.com), a metasearch service and provider of proprietary search technologies; 100hot (www.100hot.com), a leading directory of the Web's most popular sites; HyperMart (www.hypermart.net ) and Virtual Avenue (www.virtualave.net), the Web's leading providers of free business hosting services; Authorize.Net (www.authorize.net), the Internet's leading payment authorization service; Haggle Online (www.haggle.com), a person-to-person auction service; WebMarket (www.webmarket.com), a one-stop comparison shopping service; and PlaySite (www.playsite.com), the Web's premier Java-based multi-player games site.
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Key Highlights/
Milestones
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Currently Go2Net's "PlaySite Volunteer" program employs more than 50 volunteers, all of whom have passed a one-month probation period to ensure that they understand and adhere to the site's terms of use and to verify that they are spending enough designated time on PlaySite, encouraging good sportsmanship and a healthy atmosphere. The PVs, as they're called, answer individual user complaints and questions, moderate any controversies that might arise in a game, and ensure that a given game's rules are being properly followed by all online participants. The successful program has been very well received by users and PVs alike, and provides a solid human element to complement the proprietary Go2Net programs developed to block obscenity on the site.
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