Reputation of an author of online content

A computer-readable medium having instructions encoded thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a plurality of online content items authored by a plurality of authors for online publication;
• and
• for each online content item, determining a reputation score for an author of the online content item, where the reputation score is based at least in part on:
• (a) reviews scores of the online content items authored by the author, the scores provided by one or more reviewers other than the author;
• and
• (b) an authentication score for the author, the authentication score being a function of determinations made to identify that the author is who the author purports to be and
• in response to a query for online content, generating a set of search results including an online content item from the plurality of online content items;
• and
• determining a ranking of the online content item in the set based at least in part on a reputation score of the author.

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device coupled to the processor and configurable for storing instructions, which, when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a plurality of online content items authored by a plurality of authors for online publication;
• and
• for each online content item, determining a reputation score for an author of the online content item, where the reputation score is based at least in part on:
• (a) scores of online content items authored by the author, the scores provided by one or more reviewers other than the author;
• and
• (b) an authentication score for the author, the authentication score being a function of determinations made to identify that the author is who the author purports to be and
• in response to a query for online content, generating a set of search results including an online content item from the plurality of online content items;
• and
• determining a ranking of the online content item in the set based at least in part on a reputation score of the author.