How site owners can dispute a site rating
Posted by Shane Keats at 11:56 AM
From time to time, it's helpful to remind site owners and others how we respond to site owners who are concerned about our rating for their site, and how we go about resolving disagreements over a rating.
McAfee welcomes feedback about its site ratings and encourages site owners to contact us if they believe one or more of our facts regarding their site are in error. We pledge to work cooperatively with those site owners and to respond reasonably to dispute inquiries as quickly as possible.
What follows is an FAQ style description of the site rating dispute process.
How do you submit a site rating dispute?
To begin, please submit your rating dispute online.
http://www.siteadvisor.com/userfeedback.html
During the evaluation of this dispute, McAfee communicates with site owners via e-mail.
How will McAfee evaluate the dispute?
McAfee will acknowledge your dispute via e-mail and begin to evaluate the concerns you raise.
Our evaluation can go quicker if you include details about your dispute. For example, let us know what parts of our test results you are disputing and why you are disputing them. You should review the profile of your site’s test results by searching for it here: http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/
Disagreements with site owners typically fall into two categories. The first kind can be described as “Our site doesn’t do what you say it does.” The second kind can be described as “Our site no longer does what it used to do.”
There are many different cases, but here are two typical examples:
- A site owner says that the file he offers for download is not a virus.
- A site owner says that his site no longer offers the download we found in our previous test, or that the behavior of download itself has been modified.
How long will the evaluation process take?
McAfee will acknowledge your dispute within one business day of receipt. We will initiate an evaluation within five business days.
Once started, evaluations will typically be completed within the following time frames:
- Claims that a site has changed: Five business days once the evaluation is begun.
- Exception: E-mail practices. Evaluating changed e-mail practices takes 60 calendar days once the evaluation is begun because we must give our new test e-mail address significant time to see what kind of e-mail it receives, if any.
- Claims that McAfee made a mistake: 10 business days once the evaluation is begun.
What happens after the evaluation is done? When will my site’s rating change?
McAfee will e-mail the site owner to share the results of its evaluation.
When our evaluation confirms that our test data was in error, the site’s rating will be changed within one business day after we complete our evaluation.
Please note that in some cases, the overall rating for a site might remain red or yellow even if one of the test results used for that rating was wrong. For example, a site with multiple, red rated downloads will remain red even if one of those download ratings is found to be mistaken.
Sites that were accurately rated red or yellow as a result of our previous tests but have now improved will undergo a re-assessment period before the site rating is changed.
How long does this re-assessment period last?
The re-assessment period can vary from as few as 10 calendar days to as many as 365 calendar days. The length of this period depends on the site’s historical test information and the severity of the issues we found during those previous tests.
For example, sites that were rated red or yellow and have no history of risky behaviors will “go green” faster than sites that have been rated red or yellow multiple times. Sites that re-engage in a behavior that we believe is risky will “go green” slower the next time. Sites that engage in particularly risky behavior like hosting exploit code will also “go green” more slowly.
There are many different cases, but here is a typical example:
- A site that is rated red for the first time for posting links to a few red rated downloads disputes their site rating and removes the links. The site rating could become green in as few as 10 days after our tests show that the links are gone and no other issues are discovered.
- If a subsequent test of that site finds new links to red rated downloads or finds other risky behaviors, the site rating will remain red for at least 30 days after our tests show that the links and other risky behaviors have been removed.
How can I contact McAfee?
Site owners are welcome to e-mail support@siteadvisor.com. E-mail inquiries will result in a “ticket” being created and assigned to a technical support representative. This representative will direct the site owner to begin the dispute resolution process by submitting his complaint at http://www.siteadvisor.com/userfeedback.html.
The fastest and best way to check on the status of a dispute, submit additional information or express additional concerns is by e-mailing your technical support representative.



