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Moral implications of starting a web site

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Yoocandoit

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Hi people

I have a few ideas for websites, based on some of the domains i have registered.

One in particular has led me to consider the moral implications of committing to building a site, to put it frankly, i got into domaining because of the prospect of earning money from selling my domains, however I am aware in order to maximise my return on investment, i would do well to build a site with targeted PPC adverts.

The site i have in mind is 'stopwithme dot com' and it's main purpose would be to direct people to addiction recovery resources or introduce them to accountability partners wherever they are in the world, having suffered from addiction myself and being 1 year and 5 months sober, it's a subject that is close to my heart.

However, I AM NOT an expert or qualified to give professional advice, and this is my dilemma. I can see the potential of the site to help lots of people, but would also feel guilty about selling the website at a later date for a profit. It's also something that could take up a large chunk of my life, updating and maintaining the site would carry with it a degree of social responsibility to those in need of services.

If i had the money to live on for the next 2-3 years i would say it would be worth me undertaking the task, i also have never built a website before. But currently I'm un-employed, looking for work and that has to take precedence over everything at the moment.

Have you had a great idea for a website whilst domaining and struggled with the idea to build it ? let me know your thoughts.
 
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well you shouldn't feel guilty about selling it for profit later. If you've invested time and energy in it to get it up and running and traffic flowing, then you deserve the profit because its not easy.

Well done on staying sober too. :)
 
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First off congrats on on 17 months of sobriety, that's most important and here's to the next 17 months.

You bring up a good point when the website is something based on a topic where people are at risk, or are in need of serious help. Help you are not qualified to give.

Focus on what you are qualified on, 17 months sober, detail your journey. Do real homework on these places you would like to have people look into. You may find you can develop advertising relationships directly and they can be based on your research and due diligence on the facility.

It's easy to make a website about funny movies or emojis. You are taking on a bigger task as your website may affect real lives.

If you do not believe you can commit hours weekly to the project my opinion is don't start it. You don't want to get people excited for something that can help them and then not update the website for six months or more.

Again IMO
 
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If you do not believe you can commit hours weekly to the project my opinion is don't start it. You don't want to get people excited for something that can help them and then not update the website for six months or more.

Again IMO

That's exactly what i was thinking, I don't even think its a kind of project one can commit to on his own either, something like that would need a small team of people to really make it useful and successful. Like you said it's not a throwaway funny movie or emoji site or a pump and dump operation. The potential is huge though, having an accountability partner or sponsor is very important in my experience to gaining sobriety whether its drugs or alcohol or something else. stopwithme could also become a country specific brand, but wow the amount of work would be relentless, i don't think anyone could make it a meaningful site just on their own.

I'm going to hold on to it for a while and build a couple of pump and dump websites first for some other domains, before i even think about doing this. Maybe a blog could be a good idea, then it's all about what people can take from my own experience.
 
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his study extended the scope of previous findings in human–computer interaction research within the computers are social actors paradigm by showing that online users attribute perceptions of moral qualities to Websites and, further, that differential perceptions of morality affected the extent of persuasion. In an experiment (N = 138) that manipulated four morality conditions (universality, relativist, egotistic, control) across worldview, a measured independent variable, users were asked to evaluate a Web site designed to aid them in making ethical decisions. Web sites offered four different types of ethical advice as participants contemplated cases involving ethical quandaries. Perceptions of the Web sites’ moral qualities varied depending on the type of advice given. Further, the Web sites’ perceived morality and participants’ worldview predicted credibility, persuasiveness, and attitudes toward the Web sites.
 
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. Web sites offered four different types of ethical advice as participants contemplated cases involving ethical quandaries. Perceptions of the Web sites’ moral qualities varied depending on the type of advice given. Further, the Web sites’ perceived morality and participants’ worldview predicted credibility, persuasiveness, and attitudes toward the Web sites.

Haha, great reply, i am indeed contemplating a case involving an ethical quandary. Can you point me to the source of this study? I would be interested to read it
 
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