Patent ID: 8839088

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, in a computer system, a first value for a first attribute of an account of a user in an online community, the first attribute corresponding to a characteristic of the user associated with the account; identifying, using associations in the online community between the user and other users, a first set of accounts that are associated with the other users in the online community; determining, using the first set of accounts, a profile that reflects a distribution of values for at least one second attribute of the first set of accounts, the second attribute corresponding to a characteristic of the other users associated with the first set of accounts; identifying a second set of accounts of users in the online community for which the first attribute has been determined to correctly have the first value; determining, using the second set of accounts, a reference profile that reflects a distribution of values for the second attribute in the second set of accounts; comparing the profile that was determined using the first set of accounts with the reference profile; and determining whether the first value is truthful based on the comparison.