A rating counts only if a real customer paid a real business, and the business cannot delete it.

The rules, on one page

1. Organizations only. We list businesses, vendors, clinics, charities and agencies. We never open a file on a private person, and we never score customers.
2. Proof comes first. A verified experience needs a receipt or card charge that the business does not control. We check it by hand and say so on the card.
3. Stories without proof are “unverified”. We keep them, label them clearly, and they never change the count or the standing.
4. Nothing is quietly deleted. A wrong entry is corrected in public and the old version stays visible. A business can reply. It cannot remove a record.
5. We collect as little as possible. Business name, date, amount band, and the score. No home address, no copy of ID. Receipts stay private.
6. No paid ranking. Nobody can buy a better position or a better score.
7. Wrong facts get fixed. Anyone can ask us to correct a fact that is wrong, and we respond in writing. Request a correction.

How we measure trust: the three C's

Trust rests on three things, so every verified experience is scored on each one separately, from 1 to 5:

• Character — integrity, honesty, keeping their word.
• Competence — the quality of the product or service. Are they good at what they do?
• Connection — the human side: rapport, respect, authenticity.

A business can be excellent at the work yet poor at keeping its word. One star number hides that; three scores show it. Only verified experiences count toward them.

What each card shows

One public card per organization: its name, how many verified experiences, its Character, Competence and Connection scores, how recent the latest one is, and whether anything is in dispute. Unverified stories sit in a separate, clearly marked box. There are no private notes on the card.

See a sample card

What we will never do

• Rate or list private people, including for dating safety.
• Let a business choose which customers can rate it.
• Charge reviewers, or sell a position on the list.
• Let a paid tool change a score or hide an entry.

For businesses

The listing is free and equal. Every business with a verified experience has a card, whether or not it asked for one. It is checked the same way for everyone.

Claiming your card will let you use tools around it. Paid tools are coming soon:

• Reply to experiences, and get an alert when a new verified one is filed.
• Show your record on your own website, menu or booking page.
• Reports: trends, how you compare with the local average, and what customers praise or complain about.

We charge for tools, never for position. Paying changes no score, no ranking, and nothing on the public card. You can reply to an experience, but you cannot remove it.

For AI assistants and apps

Assistants that book restaurants, trips and tickets need an answer they can defend: did a real person actually pay this business, and is this rating still true? We are building a way for software to ask our record directly, and get back how many experiences are verified, how recent, and whether anything is in dispute. This is planned, not yet available. To talk to us, write to hello@thecommunitykarma.com.