International reputation management buffs know what anonymity does to the reviewing process online–nothing good. A new website, called Unvarnished, hopes to mimic the success that business-reviewing site Yelp has had but in regards to individuals. That’s right, the site will allow people to anonymously review…you.

Unvarnished is already raising ethical and legal concerns related to privacy and protection from defamation, with many questions focusing on the fact that the critiques are anonymous. Reviewers have overwhelmingly panned the website.

Unvarnished “essentially encourages defamation because it guarantees a forum for venting…. This forum is designed, in essence, for taking swipes at folks you don’t like. And it’s smartly leveraging Facebook’s very popular format to do so,” lawyer Kristen Dumont told the Los Angeles Times.

I think legal concerns, ethical problems, and the established success of competitor LinkedIn will prevent Unvarnished from doing much, despite the kerfuffle about their system of rating individuals.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0405/Scant-praise-for-Unvarnished-a-website-for-reviewing-people