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Peer rating on Helium presents an opportunity that doesn't exist in precisely the same way in any other setting. By writing on Helium you allow your work to be "graded" by people you don't know and who don't know you. It is an anonymous evaluation that the Internet offers to be immediately judged by your peers. Peer ratings can obviously be a two-edged sword. Writers open themselves up to a kind of deep scrutiny we seldom allow in any other facet of our lives.

In a way, it is a one-on-one competition with the writer competing with the rater. You are quite literally saying; I'm the target, shoot away. In some ways it's like a one-man stage show. There's only you and the one-person audience, and as any comedian knows, audiences can be tough if they don't enjoy what they hear, or in a writer's world, read.

Why was Simon Cowell just offered a $144-million dollar per year contract to return to American Idol? It's simply because he's brutality honest and sometimes wrong. But, is he the one whose opinion you really want to hear? That is how peer review on Helium is. We really want to know what others think, and we're willing to put our feelings on the line to find out.

From the first day anyone starts writing on helium, it becomes obvious that rating is the soul of the site. You are inviting perhaps thousands of people to openly judge you, the quality of your work and your opinions about a host of subjects. They also have the option to send notes that may be critical or positive. Writing, of course, is still the heart and objective of Helium.

Helium's single person member audience is not known so he or she is free to make judgments without recriminations. It's the reminder of what happens when casting your bread upon the waters. Because there are no seeming penalties for poor rating, there is a special responsibility every peer-rater carries. Each must be brutally honest, completely fair, provide his or her full attention and have a full-measure of empathy. Empathy is another way of suggesting that we follow the Golden Rule. As you rate on Helium, so shall you be rated. It is an immutable fact of human existence.

Every writer wants an honest opinion of their work. As a rater, my goal is to rate an average of six times each day. I rate at least twice in the morning, twice at noon and twice in the evening. There are substantial benefits to dividing up your rating day. You are not overwhelmed trying to gather rating stars, you don't overload yourself, and I believe

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