Advisors are a select group of members who are expected to provide helpful guidance to writers in a category through their rates and comments. Along with other Advisors and members, they assist readers by rating, and subsequently sorting, reviews in order of most to least helpful.

The "hat bot" produces a list of candidates based on certain parameters, but this list is neither final nor definitive. The CLs and the Epinions staff review this list, and also nominate their own choices for Advisors. Sitewide, the basic requirement for Advisor candidates is the ability to help improve the quality of writing in a category by rating and commenting on reviews in a consistently accurate and constructive manner.

Current Advisors and Advisor candidates are reviewed by the CLs and Epinions staff on a (semi) regular basis; ideally, every three months, with six months the current norm.

In general, Advisor status lasts as long as the member continues to provide consistently accurate rates and comments. The CLs and Epinions staff may decide that an Advisor is no longer meeting category standards, and may pull the hat from the member during a hat selection round. And just as any member may be ticketed for violating Epinions policy, Advisor Status can be pulled at any time if the member is found to be in violation.

Yes, you can. If an Advisor letter is sent to you, you may reply to decline the status.

No. However, Epinions looks to maintain a balanced number of Advisors in a category based on a category's popularity, the number of active contributors, and consumer interest.

• Rates given by Advisors are stronger than rates given by other members.
• Advisors have the option to give a Most Helpful rate to one review per product topic in their category
• Advisors are eligible for placement as a Featured member on Epinions and Category home pages
• Advisors receive a small Income Share bonus each month they hold this status.
• Advisors get to wear the nifty keen blue badge

Due to the relative strength of their rates, Advisors have more potential to raise or lower the overall rating of a review, and so their rates are more likely to be questioned and/or criticized, especially when they are different from the average rate of the review. Advisors are often expected to write comments that explain their rate of a review, and these comments are also scrutinized closely by other members. Advisors are sometimes suspected of playing favorites among writers in their category, deliberately promoting some authors, while actively holding back others. Expect to feel as if everything you do is being judged by many other members.

There could be any number of reasons, but here are the most common:

• The accuracy, constructiveness, and/or quantity of your rates and comments are lacking
• You have reviews posted on other websites that disqualify you from consideration for this position. (see the EpiFAQ's notes on Cross Posting)
• There are other candidates that the CLs and Epinions staff feel are more deserving than you
• Consider your reputation within the Epinions community. If you are not viewed favorably within your category or the site in general, this may affect your chances to be selected.

If you can't figure out why, kindly ask the Category Leads.

Category Leads are a select group of members who are expected to work with the Epinions staff in order to promote continual improvement of a category's product information, reviews and community of members.

Category Leads can be nominated by members of the community. Nominations of Lead candidates should be submitted to Epinions using the Feedback form.

The position of Category Lead is granted by the staff of Epinions, based on long-term observations of a person's body of work within a category, and the measure of respect the member has earned within the Epinions community. A good candidate is someone who is knowledgeable about the category's products, who consistently contributes to the improvement of the category, who does not violate the cross-posting rules, and who can avoid causing and ably handle conflicts within the community.

Epinions' stated policy is that Category Leads are re-evaluated quarterly. This re-evaluation is usually not done at the same time as the hat selections. If a current Lead steps down, or if Epinions decides that a Lead is to be removed from the position, Epinions will go through their Lead selection process to replace that member.

At each re-evaluation period, if both Epinions and the Lead wish to renew the member's status, the term will continue for another quarter.

Category Leads enjoy the benefits of both the Top Reviewer and the Advisor positions:

• Higher placement of reviews
• Ratings are stronger that those of other members
• Leads are eligible for placement as a Featured member on Epinions and Category home pages
• CLs are paid a small monthly stipend.
• Leads are given this stylish red badge

The CL position carries the most responsibility and highest visibility of any category status, and there are potentially many negatives that can come with the job. The job requires integrity, a strong will and the ability to make tough, fair choices - these can be difficult things to do within a community of members who are also sometimes friends. There are always those members who will criticize, scrutinize, analyze and politicize every little thing that a lead does - no matter how poor or outstanding a job the Lead may be doing at any time.

Leads should also be prepared to be in regular communication with the Epinions staff and the members of their category - a Lead may be asked to assist with adding products to the category, to resolve disputes both public and private, and to make decisions (sometimes difficult and/or unpopular) regarding the direction of the category and the selection of TRs and Advisors. It's a demanding and sometimes thankless job...

Moderators are responsible for maintaining a productive atmosphere on the Epinions Message Boards. Each category of the message boards typically has two moderators, whose job it is to spend a daily portion of time setting a mood for their areas by generating conversations and monitoring those that do go on. Moderators should be the first people approached should there be something of concern on the Message Boards.

Moderators are currently singled out based largely on the recommendations of Category Leads, existing Moderators, and other established members that frequent the message boards. Candidates for the Moderator position then undergo an interview with an Epinions staff member, who will then decide whether that candidate will become a Moderator.

There is no formal method for giving feedback on Moderators, and there is currently no plan to add a feedback form for Moderators. To comment on an existing Moderator, suggest someone for the Moderator position, or express your own interest in becoming a Moderator, the following methods are the best way to go about doing so: A fairly direct and effective approach to giving some feedback is to contact an existing Moderator (or even a Category Lead) you trust and ask that they quietly pass along your comments to the powers that be, or bring them up for discussion on the Moderator's private message board. If the nature of your feedback is something you'd like to keep especially private, you can email roheblius, who is the Epinions staff member responsible for watching over the Moderators.

Moderators are paid a small fixed amount at the beginning of every month. Individuals that hold a Moderator hat in multiple categories do not earn anything more than individuals that hold the Moderator hat in only one category.

Epinions has yet to create an official list of Moderators. However, an unofficial list of Moderators is maintained in this thread on the Epinions help message board. Moderators are highlighted with the following green badge, visible only on the message boards:

Links to the lists of various hats are found in the left side sidebar menu of the Epinions Member Center page, under "Best of the Best".

Here are direct links to the three different pages:

Top Reviewers

Advisors

Category Leads