My sister-in-law, Anita, buys me a Consumer Reports magazine subscription every year, and I always enjoy reading it.

This month, there was a story about online user reviews. According to the article, reviews of a firm do in fact impact the bottom line favorably or unfavorably, but at the same time, many people are skeptical because some reviews are bogus.

However, we know that on DOTmed, ratings are one of our most popular features. DOTmed Users who are in the market to either buy or sell frequently check the ratings of the people they are about to do business with.

Our ratings cannot be bogus because they are made by our Users and we do not let just anyone register on our site. We protect our site from bogus ratings, which makes our ratings even more valuable.

If you are visiting DOTmed to buy, we encourage you to check ratings before you do business with someone. If you are selling, be sure to update your profile on DOTmed and ask your customers to rate you at the end of a transaction.

More people are making more decisions on who to do business with after they have done their online research. This is a free service we offer, so please take advantage of it.