This ought to be an interesting social experiment. I’ll go on record that I won’t believe anything people say about any of you nice folks on Peeple.

Peeple has been likened by critics and supporters alike as a Yelp-style review service at which people are rated, without their consent, the same way a person might give a grade to a restaurant or an airline.

Yelp was quick to make it clear it was not associated with the Peeple startup, which some reports valued at $7.6 million based on investment funding raised.

Peeple is an app for rating and commenting about those who one interacts with in daily life personally, professionally, or romantically, according to the forthepeeple.com website.

Founders and close friends Julia Cordray and Nicole McCullough defended their creation on Thursday as an online venue for praise and constructive feedback.

A firestorm of criticism at Twitter, Facebook and other online venues countered that the creators of Peeple were either naively or intentionally downplaying how nasty commentary can get on the Internet.