She wrote, “You will NOT be on our platform with your explicit permission”.
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If you couldn’t guess what the app will do, the basic idea is that, on Peeple, everyone you’ve ever interacted with will be able to rate you, and everything they like or don’t like about you. As innovators we want to make your life better and have the opportunity to prove how great it feels to be loved by so many in a public space. He later added, “The Internet essentially exists so people can say vicious things about each other, and we don’t need another app to facilitate that”.
In an essay published Sunday on LinkedIn, Cordray says she’s received “death threats and extremely insulting comments,” all because people misunderstood her extremely innocent, positive, and loving app for ranking people as though they’re inanimate goods and services. The app will allow users to rate people they know on three categories: personal, professional and dating.
“That’s why Peeple is focused on the positive and ONLY THE POSITIVE as a 100% OPT-IN system”, Cordray explained.
Peeple, a controversial online app described as “Yelp for humans” has disappeared from the web.
While it’s certainly nice that high school students wishing to torment each other will have another tool at their disposal, the reaction to Peeple from adults was pretty much universal horror and disgust. In order to post reviews on Peeple, users have to be at least 21 years old, have a Facebook account, and use their real names. Anyone who is a registered Peeple user and receives any negative reviews will have 48 hours to dispute them before they’re made available for all to see. LaCapria also pointed out that several details released about the service remained suspiciously vague. Not only is the official Peeple website gone without a trace, so are the startup’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts. There is no way to even make negative comments.
“The question I received the most is ‘This must be a hoax. You’re not seriously going to create this are you?’ The answer is: It’s real but not in the way it’s now being portrayed”, co-founder Julia Cordray wrote.
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October 12 is presumably the day when Cordray and McCullogh will address the controversy surrounding their new app. According to the report, they “will be taping for an exclusive talk show and expose our concept to the world”, the co-founders stated in an email to the British broadcasting company. Actually, it’s the exact opposite. However, she said that’s not discouraging her from launching the app. Instead, she will try and rebrand the app as a “positive only app”, which will “bring positivity and kindness to the world”.
